E R RAMACHANDRAN writes: The Bangalore–Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) is turning out to be a one-way street for fights, affidavits, counter affidavits and stay orders.
Every now and then, the promoter of the project is seen in newspapers hugging villagers in some obscure place at the proposed site and announcing ‘all things have been tied up’ and work will ‘start simultaneously on many fronts’.
On the other side, the Government flexes its muscles determined to stop the project on its muddy tracks. The Supreme Court, on its part, has requisitioned for more gavels, as continuous and ceaseless rapping of GOK softened their gavels and it didn’t seem to hurt them any more.
I wanted to find out from the horses’ mouth where the project was heading assuming there are only two horses, as at present.
First I went and met the promoter in a field eating kadalekai amidst some villagers. He looked more like a cross between a lawyer and a mason and hardly the debonair businessman from the US of A who claimed his love for hometown brought him to this project.
“Sir, ever since you announced the BMIC Project, you seem to be spending your time, mostly in courts,” I started.
“I also practice boxing in my spare time so that I can give back whatever I get in full measure,” said the gutsy promoter sparring with his gloves.
“Despite the Supreme Court coming to your rescue, still the corridor doesn’t seem to get off the ground. What’s your next move?”
“Since Supreme Court is unable to help me, I have now decided to approach the World Court at The Hague, Netherlands, for justice. If I win there, I am told, the UN will give protection to my masons and construction workers by sending their Armed Forces from First World Countries. I will also personally invite Kofi Annanji to do the Bhoomi Pooja.”
That seemed a perfectly normal thing to do when even the hands of the highest court in the land appeared to be tied and sealed with Fevicol.
Next I approached the Official of GOK, who was twiddling his thumbs not sure whether to sit in Vikasa Soudha or Vidhana Soudha. I broke his reverie.
“Sir, I believe, you are handling the ‘BMIC Corridor project’.”
“Tell me, what can I do for you?”
“Even after the Courts have given the project the ‘go ahead’ countless number of times – I forget the last count – still GOK doesn’t give the necessary land for the BMIC project to start work. This is one of the ‘Fast Track’ projects, you are handling, I presume.”
“Indeed. We are still not convinced how much land is required for this project.”
“But GOK itself approved the project in the first place and the Supreme Court has cleared all obstacles for the nth time and wants the corridor work to start in full steam.”
“The Courts underestimate us. We are still not convinced how much land is required. Until that matter is cleared we will do everything to stop the project.”
I had seen officials bending their backs to get companies and investors. Here, it looked the official wanted to chase the promoter away.
“How?” I almost shouted.
“There are ways…. We will impose sanctions against the promoter similar to what U.S did on Iraq. First, we can ask the Builder Association of Karnataka / India not to supply masons, casual labourers. Second, we can make sure see nobody sells cement, sand and construction equipment. Third, we will not allow any lorries to the site; So on and so forth. He just won’t be able to start work!”
There was a note of triumph in his voice.
As I took a last look at the BMIC project, I saw two donkeys at the site.
They were chewing some drawings with the supreme satisfaction, knowing another 50 generations they could do so and multiply there without any worry…
Fantastic, Ramachandran sir! The parting shot about drawings being eaten by donkeys sums up the fate of the project as well as the state economy.
Very well summed up. Nothing seems to materialise in less than a decade in Karnataka. The Mys-Blr double track, Blr-Mlr guage conversion, et al. Many like ELRTS (for which BMP has collected crores of rupees of cess) have long gone into cold storage.
Nice one Mr. ramachandran. Politics is so darn messy !!!
As Arun points out, there seems to be too many hurdles for every project we take up. FInally we see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Devanahalli aiprot. As far as “namme metro”, I guess lesser said the better it is…
ಕಿಲ ಕಿಲಾ… ನನಗೆ ಒಂದು ವಿಷಯ ಇನ್ನೂ ಅರ್ಥ ಆಗಿಲ್ಲ…
NICE ಕಂಪನಿಯವರೇನಾದರೂ ಈ ಸರ್ಕಾರೀ (ಮುಖ್ಯ)ಮಂತ್ರಿಗಳನ್ನೇನಾದ್ರೂ Drawings ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದಿದ್ರಾ site inspection ಗೆ ಅಂತಾ…. ಪಾಪ, ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸಬಲ…. ಮುಂಡೇವು, Drawings ಎಲ್ಲಾ ತಿಂದುಬಿಟ್ಟಿವೆ… ಅವರೇನಾದ್ರೂ ಹಣ ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ರೆ ಅಂತೂ, ಇನ್ನೂ ಖುಷಿಯಾಗಿ Drawings ಜೊತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಂಚಿಕೊಂಡು ತಿಂದುಬಿಟ್ಟಿರೋವು….. ಪಾಪ, ಈ NICE ಕಂಪನಿಯವರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಿಲ್ಲ…
Ramachandran ಅವರೇ, ನಿಜಾ ಹೇಳಿ, ನೀವು ಕತ್ತೆಗಳನ್ನೇನಾ ನೋಡಿದ್ದು?? ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಪರ ವಹಿಸುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲಾ ತಾನೆ??!!!
ಕಿಲ ಕಿಲಾ…. ಕಾಲ ಕೆಟ್ಟು ಹೋಯ್ತು…. ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯಪ್ಪಾ!!!
ಕಿಲ ಕಿಲಾ, ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯಪ್ಪಾ!! ಏನಪ್ಪಾ, ಈ ಕಾಲ ಕೆಟ್ಟೋಯ್ತಪ್ಪಾ!!
ತಾಜಾ ಸುದ್ದಿ ಕೇಳಿದ್ರಾ? ಆ ಎರಡೂ ಕತ್ತೆಗಳೂ ಅಪ್ಪ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮಗ ಅಂತೆ!! ಒಂದು, ಮುದೀ ಕತ್ತೆ, ಇನ್ನೊಂದು, ಮಧ್ಯವಯಸ್ಸಿನದಂತೆ!!
ಅವರಿಬ್ಬರೂ ಸೇರಿ, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲೇ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ ನಡೀತಾ ಇದ್ರೂ ಸಹಾ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಝಾಂಡಾ ಊರುತ್ತಾರಂತೆ!! ಆ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದ, ಆ ಎರಡೂ ಕತ್ತೆಗಳಿಗೆ, ಇದೇನೂ ಹೊಸದಲ್ಲ ಅಂತ ಅವರನ್ನು ಬಲ್ಲವರ ಹಾಗೂ ಕಂಡವರ ಅಂಬೋಣ.
ನಾನು, ಈ ಮೊದಲು ಇದೇ ವಿಷಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಚುರುಮುರಿ ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದು, ನಂತರ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಣ್ಣವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದೆ. ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೂ, “ರಾಯಾ, ಇದೇನಪ್ಪಾ? ನಮ್ಮ, ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಥರಹದ ಸುದ್ದಿ? ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ, ನಮ್ಮ ಗಂಧರ್ವರನ್ನು ಕಳಿಸಿ ವಿಚಾರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಾ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳು” ಅಂತ. ಆಗ ವಿಷಯ ಗೊತ್ತಾಯ್ತು, ಅವು, ಮನುಷ್ಯರೂಪಿ ಕತ್ತೆಗಳು ಅಂತ!! ಅವೆರಡೂ ತೀರ್ಮಾನ ಮಾಡಿವೆಯಂತೆ, “ಏನೇ ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ಸಹಾ ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರನ್ನು ಹಾಳುಮಾಡಬಾರದು!! ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೂ, ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ ನಡೆಯಬಾರದು!! ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದರೆ, ಪದ್ಮನಾಭನಗರ ಮತ್ತು ಸುತ್ತ ಮುತ್ತಲಿನ ಪ್ರದೇಶಗಳನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು, ಬೇರೆಲ್ಲ ಕಡೆ ನಾವು ಬೆಳೆ ಬೆಳೆಯಬೇಕು!! ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದರೆ, ನಾವೇ ಆ ಜಾಗಗಳನ್ನು ಈ ರೀತಿ ಆಕ್ರಮಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು, ಸಂಬಂಧಪಟ್ಟ drawings ಎಲ್ಲಾ ತಿಂದು, ನಮ್ಮ ಕೈಯ್ಯಾರೇ ನಾವೇ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಟ್ಟಡಗಳನ್ನು ಕೆಡವಿ, ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಕೃಷಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು!! ”
ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಜನ ಆದಷ್ಟೂ ಆರೋಗ್ಯವಾಗಿ, ಗಟ್ಟಿಮುಟ್ಟಾಗಿ ಇರಬೇಕು ಅನ್ನುವ ಒಂದೇ ಒಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ, ಆ ಎರಡೂ ಕತ್ತೆಗಳು ಒಂದು ತೀರ್ಮಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂದಿವೆಯಂತೆ!! “ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಜನ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದಷ್ಟೂ ಕಾಲ್ನಡಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಬೇಕು, ಕಾರಲ್ಲೇನಾದ್ರೂ ಹೋದ್ರೆ, ಪಾಪ, ಆ ಕಾರು ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಬೇಕು!! ಅದು ಕೂಡ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಹೋಗಬಾರದು!! Bus ಅಂತ ಏನಾದ್ರೂ ಇದ್ರೆ ತಾನೆ ಜನ ಓಡಾಡೋದು? ಅದನ್ನೇ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಹೇಗೆ?” ಅಂತ ಕೂಡಾ ಯೋಚನೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿವೆಯಂತೆ!! ಮುಂಡೇವು, ಆ ಕತ್ತೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಕಳಕಳಿ ನೋಡಿ!!! ನಮಗ್ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಎಷ್ಟು ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಬುದ್ಧಿ ಇಲ್ಲ!!
ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯಪ್ಪಾ!! Time ಆಗೋಯ್ತು!! ಅಣ್ಣವರಿಗೆ ಊಟದ Time!! ಇನ್ನೂ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಈ ವಿಷಯ ಎಲ್ಲನೂ ತಿಳಿಸಬೇಕು!! ಅವರು ಏನಂತಾರೋ ಕೇಳ್ಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದು ನಿಮಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ತಿಳಿಸುತ್ತೀನಿ!!
ಬರ್ತೀನಿ!!, ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯಪ್ಪಾ!! ಕಿಲ ಕಿಲಾ!!