Karnataka HC nods 'GO' for Metro land acquisition

Bangalore, Apr 10: The Karnataka High Court on April 9, 2007 exempted the Metro rail project from a stay order on land acquisition. The High Court had earlier stayed KIADB land acquisitions in Bangalore Urban and Rural districts. The court, however,has now permitted KIADB to acquire land for Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) without any further delay.

Justice H V G Ramesh, who passed this order, however, extended the stay order till April 18 with respect to land acquisition proceedings for other projects. The judge asked the government and the board to furnish complete details regarding land acquisition in the past five years.

In March, the court had stayed KIADB's efforts to acquire 12,000 acres of land in and around Bangalore and asked the KIADB board to furnish details about the exact amount of land acquired and disbursed to industries.

The Metro rail project requires a total of 228 acres of land, of which 26.8 acres belong to private owners and 201 acres belong to the government.

In total, around 642 properties will be acquired and 1,500 families will be relocated. The BMRC board has approved two rehabilitation packages. On Monday, two committees, which have been formed to suggest compensation packages, came up with compensation amount for those who would lose land and proposed different rates for structures.

Following the stay order, KIADB had filed an interlocutory application for recalling the earlier order that was rejected.

In its statement, KIADB said it proposed to acquire a 9945.34 acres in both the districts. It plans to acquire 4,899.19 acres in Bangalore Urban district alone.

In the past five years, a total of 3374.20 acres, with 2007.33 acres in Bangalore Urban, has been acquired for industrial areas as well as single unit industries.

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