Is Karnataka jinxed?

The son of the soil may think he has a right to use expletives. He may seek to justify the Double B (B****y B*****d) he spewed against the chief minister and the advocate general while offering a conditional retraction. Many of his followers may even argue that being a humble farmer, he may, in anger, let loose expletives that need not be taken too seriously because that is how simple, simple farmers are. Even if one were to grant that it is a characteristic trait of some, it shows up in poor light the culture of a leader.

HD Deve Gowda is not some ordinary street-corner pudari who has to flex his muscle once in a while to earn fear if not respect. He has been in politics for long and occupied high offices to know such language of the street is not for his kind. That, surely, is also the message that is coming across from ordinary citizens. Let us leave him and his poor farmers alone and introspect why many ambitious projects in Karnataka are jinxed. Let us run through a short catalogue.

Back in 1970, Indira Gandhi announced setting up a steel plant in Bellary. It remained an announcement till the Janata government buried it in 1979, not because the project was not feasible but to spite her. The plant finally came up because of private enterprise 15 years later.

The international airport is another jinxed project. It was on the drawing board since 1982 but acquired some traction in the early 1990s when the Tatas showed a keen interest. The state government treated the Tatas so well that they pulled out. Another consortium finally built the airport but not a single day passed without some one taking a pot-shot either at the project or at the parties involved in the project since 2004. We still are not happy, either with the facilities at the airport or its location.

The third in this shortlist is the NICE project. It was conceived when Deve Gowda was the chief minister in 1995. His government signed the deal with the private consortium. In 15 years since then, only the peripheral road, linking Hosur Road and Tumkur Road with Mysore Road is ready. Not completely, however, since a tiny stretch near Gottigere is bogged down in litigation. That and other issues relating to the project have so many litigious twists that only Deve Gowda, Ashok Kheny who runs NICE, and a couple of lawyers involved from the beginning, probably understand all the facets of the case including some contempt proceedings.

The NICE expressway of some 120km remains on paper while the old Mysore-Bangalore highway itself was redone as a four lane carriageway. While the state is still struggling with the question of how to let this 120km road be built, a golden quadrilateral started in 1999, four years after the memorandum of understanding for the NICE Road was signed, and running a length of 5,800km is more or less ready. There are, one is told, some major bottlenecks in that project but at least some 5,000km of that highway was ready for use a long time ago. Compared to that, the NICE Road ought to have been child’s play. But then a jinx is a jinx and a troublesome Deve Gowda can give a mouthful as well.

There is also some indication from him, not straightforward as usual, that he may try to keep the issue alive even if the courts decide in favour of the project as they have, time and again. That would make it politically much more complex than it is now. The directive of the Supreme Court to the state to file a compliance report in eight weeks may give the state the legal shield to transfer land but it will still carry political risks.

The only problem seems to be the value of the land that the project needs. The price fixed at the time of notifying acquisition is way below the current market price even if you were to ignore the grossly exaggerated anticipated market price. If the gap between the low offer and high anticipation of price is not bridged, those who lost their land will always nurture a grouse. The only way forward is to look beyond the courts and arrive at acquisition pricing that is fair to those whose assets are being taken away.
Individuals who’re forced to give up their assets for a public purpose always suffer a double dose of injury. First, losing the asset and second, getting a lower value for that. Since the perception is that the value of land closer to Bangalore is pretty high, every farmer salivates at the prospect of making vast sums of money.

The proposed acquisition of land by BDA for forming a residential layout in Bangalore north is a case in point. Some of those likely to lose land have already formed an interest group to oppose acquisition. If, as they point out, the state housing board was willing to pay Rs50 lakh per acre for land near Devanahalli, land closer to the city ought to fetch them a higher price. A sound argument indeed and that is the crux of the problem of the NICE project as well.