Defying SC orders, Karnataka works on Bill to grab countrys first private road project

  • 04/06/2006

  • Indian Express (New Delhi)

In a bid to defy the Supreme Court go-ahead on the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), the Karnataka government plans to bring in a Bill that will allow the state to take over the country's first private infrastructure project from its implementer, the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE). The draft Bill has been readied for a special legislature session starting tomorrow, said sources in the state Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry. The move comes after the Supreme Court, in an April 20 order, took the Karnataka government to task and cleared the expressway project. It had run into numerous roadblocks put up by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his Janata Dal (Secular) party, a partner in the previous Dharam Singh coalition.