Bangalore: Scam-hit SEZ may be axed

DHNS

• Farmers likely to be compensated

Bangalore, 05 December 2010: The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) may cancel the land allotted to Itasca Software Development Pvt Ltd, which allegedly paid a Rs 87-crore kickback to former IT and BT minister Katta Subramanya Naidu.

 

The State government may also initiate steps to compensate farmers, who were allegedly cheated in the process of acquiring 325 acres of land in 91 different survey numbers for the SEZ project in the Bandikodigenahalli village of Jala hobli near Bangalore international airport.

 

Permission

“We will seek permission from the Karnataka Lokayukta, which is investigating the case, on providing compensation to the farmers in a day or two. If the Lokayukta gives the green signal, we will take appropriate steps to provide justice to the aggrieved farmers,” a top official in the Commerce and Industries department said.

 

Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said he would only be too happy to give permission to the government to provide compensation to the farmers.

 

“It is the right step in providing justice to people. I am also ready to help the government in identifying the farmers,” he said.

 

According to the Commerce and Industry Department officials, the government may seek a report from the Lokayukta on the scam. Based on it, a decision will be taken on cancelling the Itasca project. But as the probe into the scam was still on, it might take at least two to three months for the government to get the report, they added.

 

Lapses

Itasca Software has allegedly committed a series of lapses while securing the approval of the high-level clearance committee headed by the chief minister in 2006 for its project.

 

One of the major lapses was that it had not disclosed its financial status in its application seeking approval.

 

The company and its middlemen, including Katta’s corporator-son Jagadish, are also accused of cheating many farmers at Bandikodigehalli. They sold huge stretches of land belonging to the farmers to the KIADB using fictitious documents.

 

In many instances,  middlemen forced farmers to sell their land at cheap rates of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per acre, which in turn was sold to the KIADB at Rs 45 lakh to Rs 50 lakh per acre.

 

The issue first came to light in April 2009 when the aggrieved farmers lodged a complaint with Bagalur police. They had alleged that Itasca MD Srinivas, Katta Jagadish and middlemen Gopi and Manohar Soni cheated them by selling their land.

 

The government is planning to recover the entire money that should have reached the farmers from the company. “The company has submitted indemnity bond to the KIADB. It has thus caused loss both to the farmers and the KIADB,” a government source said. The company had deposited Rs 134 crore with the KIADB for land allotment.

 

Another firm made gains

Katta Subramanya Naidu had allegedly recommended allotment of five acres of KIADB land to S&S Athithi Hotels Pvt Ltd in Mysore, reports DHNS. This was much before the project was cleared by a single window agency.

 

The project proposal to set up a resort in Mysore was cleared by the agency on July 28, 2007. But Katta had written a letter on May 21, 2007, to KIADB recommending allotment of land to the firm. The company officially applied for land allotment on August 8, 2007, and got land in 17 days.