Thursday, December 30 2004 18:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: The controversy engulfed Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project today (Dec 30, 3004) hit a major road block with the Congress-JDS (Janata Dal-Secular) coalition Government deciding to reclaim 2252 acres of land and preferring to sign afresh the framework agreement with the Nandi Infrastructure Services Enterprise (NISE).

The 2252 acres of excess land allotted to the project, which included 774 acres of Government-owned and 1478 acres acquired by farmers would be taken over and re-conveyed to farmers, Minister for Information B Shivaram said while briefing the media on today's Cabinet meeting decisions.

The Government, in a major policy decision, resolved to demand the NISE to sign a new framework agreement to include that all arbitration shall lie in a court in India, instead of the original agreement to settle disputes in a court in London, Shivaram said.

He said the decision adopted on the BMIC project were in accordance with the interim report submitted by an expert committee headed by former Public Works Department Secretary K C Reddy, set up by the Government to go into whether any violations have taken place in the project and excess land had been acquired.

The Cabinet, which accepted the interim report "in-toto" also decided to put on hold the township project proposed by NISE near Bidadi on the city outskirts, for which 2387.32 acres of land had been allotted.

Shivaram sought to make clear that the Government had no intention to shelve the project and wanted the work to begin as soon as possible.