BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday alleged that the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) has collected Rs 4,756.48 crore in tolls since 2008 even though the project remains incomplete, and demanded that collection be stopped immediately.
Addressing the media, the former CM said that the original project cost of NICE road was Rs 1,583.76 crore, meaning toll revenue had reached nearly three times that figure. Annual collections rose from Rs 5.59 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 734.97 crore in 2024-25, he said.
Kumaraswamy said a Toll Concession Agreement was signed on September 4, 2000, between the state Public Works Department and NICE, and was required to follow the original Framework Agreement of April 3, 1997, which would prevail in case of conflict. The agreements, he said, envisaged a four-lane concrete road, service roads and maintenance areas before tolling began. He alleged these conditions were not fully met and that NICE also acquired farmers’ land.
The JDS leader alleged that the project alignment was changed through the Outline Development Plan on February 12, 2004, without Cabinet approval. According to documents he cited, land for the Peripheral Road rose from 2,193 to 2,747 acres, and land for the toll road from 6,999 to 9,468 acres. He also said engineer Kapil Sharma had used the Dishaank application in 2021 to identify roads allegedly built over lake areas, and that documents on the alleged encroachments were released at the press conference.
Kumaraswamy cited the High Court of Karnataka’s July 29 judgment, which, he said, held that altering the agreement through the ODP amounted to a “fraud on statute and the Constitution” and criticised state authorities. NICE has challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court, which, he noted, has not stayed the judgment and has adjourned the matter to November 2.
In his view, toll collection should stop given the absence of a stay. He also pointed to a November 4, 2002 Cabinet decision under the SM Krishna government, under which tolling was to be withdrawn if the four-lane concrete road was not finished within six years.
He further alleged that NICE earned revenue from sources beyond tolls, in violation of the Framework Agreement: Rs 384 crore from land sales, Rs 108 crore in advances for joint development, and Rs 338 crore from convention centres.
Kumaraswamy referred to a 2016 House committee chaired by former minister TB Jayachandra, which recommended taking over the project and recovering excess land. He questioned Jayachandra’s shift in stance, noting that he said in August 2023 that the road was not needed but wrote to the CM in May 2025 seeking its completion. “This raises questions about what is happening behind the scenes,” he alleged.