BENGALURU: While the high court is hearing matters related to the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project, now dubbed the Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC), affected landowners have strongly condemned the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for pushing “misleading” information to the courts, media and the general public.
PRR Raitha Haagu Niveshanadarara Sangha said this systematic media campaign is seen as a desperate attempt to influence the judicial process and mask the project’s profound legal and procedural failures.
Noting that the BDA’s scheme is fundamentally flawed and legally lapsed, the forum said the original 2007 final notification is legally dead and the recent 2022 actions are an illegal attempt to revive a defunct project. “The BDA is attempting to acquire land far in excess of what the project legitimately requires, thereby inflating the project cost, which will be borne by the public. We demand the immediate removal of at least 426 acres (170 acres for toll booths and 256 acres for BMTC/truck terminals) of unnecessary land from the acquisition,” the forum urged.
Condemning the BDA’s “ignorance and non-compliance” with the high court’s directives, the forum noted that the authority had failed to adhere to the recent November 27 high court order explicitly directing officials not to interfere with or harass farmers until the case is decided. “Any attempt to survey or coerce consent is a direct abuse of power,” it added.