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  • Expressway project promoter:     NICE Ltd.
    • Claiming away the corridor.
    The list of false claims about the Bangalore Mysore expressway project seem endless. Here is page that will provide reality checks.
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       Claim   By   In   Really? 
    1 Forestry

  • NICE Ltd has applied to the MEF for permission to maintain greenery in the forests.
  • We are also setting aside about two per cent of the amount collected from tolls for maintenance of the two forests. Recycled water from townships will be used in the forests.
  • We want to rehabilitate those people doing private cultivation in some forests and ensure that forest wealth is maintained. 
    		• Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 Times of India
    September 09, 2001     		 Specious claim.

    The Forest Conservation Act (1980) and later Supreme Court rulings do not allow anyone easy access to notified forests (legally), let alone maintain them.
    2 Impact assessment

    NICE has done a detailed survey using NRSA maps, cross-checked manually on the entire area. If any villager comes from this area and asks us, we can tell them all details including how many children live in the house, where they study or work, who earns how much and so on. This is probably the most detailed survey anyone has done anywhere.     		Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 Times of India
    September 09, 2001     		 Specious claim.

    NRSA maps are satellite imageries that only show clusters of households, not even individual households. In addition, it is not possible to establish social data from NRSA images unless NICE has developed special satellite reading technology that includes CIA thermal mappers!
    3 Impact assessment

    NICE has gathered comprehensive social-impact data using a questionairre that has 10 pages of questions. Data gathered also includes number of trees in an area, types of trees, kinds of buildings, people and their occupation.     		 Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 TThe Asian Age
    September 14, 2001     		 Secret?

    This information has not been made public. MECON has done a survey which involved 20 visits. The length of the survey is not as important as its statistical integrity. 
    4 Fraud?

    The NGO (ESG, Bangalore) is distorting the issue. VHB is part of the India International Infrastructure Engineers Ltd, which provides planning, engineering, programme, construction management and engineering services for the project. The project developer, whom the government is dealing with, is NICE comprising just the Kalyani Group and SAB International.'     		 Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 Times of India
    May 02, 2001     		 Denial

    The agreements signed with the government including the Framework agreement mention VHB inc, USA.  
    5 Fraud?

    VHB's senior Vice-president Richard Hangen, however, has written to NICE stating that the NGO had distorted" the issue and that VHB was still ready to undertake the engineering aspects of the project, once it received the environmental clearance.     		 Dharam Singh
    position     		 Times of India
    May 02, 2001     		 Specious claim

    This supposed letter has not been made public. Even the press does not have access to this letter. Does this letter even exist? 
    6 Kannada translations of documents

    There are many files and it is practically impossible to provide all the documents in Kannada as the ESG/Wetlands international etc have demanded.'     		 Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 The Asian Age
    September 14, 2001     		 Violation

    A government order has been issued precisely to mandate translations. This is a callous violation of People's right to information. 
    7 Unaccounted expenses for tank desilting

    251 tanks along the 5km belt on either side of the expressway are identified. Top layer of silt is free for farmers as manure. Hard silt will be used for embankments and filling degraded areas. So no extra expenses for exacavating silt.     		 Ashok Kheny
    MD, NICE Ltd.     		 The Asian Age
    September 14, 2001     		 False and reckless claims

    Who gave NICE permissions to desilt? Has the relevant department of minor-irrigation even been approached? Desilting is a hugely expensive and politically involved activity. A WB project on community based tank rehabilitation project for Karnataka has not yet been finalized because of the costs. 
    8 Project schedule

    Expressway would be ready in 3 years     		 Dharam Singh
    Minister for Public Works     		 Deccan Herald
    October 13, 2001     		 Inconsistent claims

    NICE (Ashok Kheny) says five years in some press articles. Techno report says 10 years.