Bangalore - Annual Global Investors Meet

[ChennaiIndian]

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/benga...-3-wheeler-965

Bengaluru, June 4: The final day of the Global Investors Meet witnessed an unusual bid for investment. An electric auto with multiple posters asking ‘Who will invest in this?’ was doing the rounds at the venue.
Designed and developed by Syed Sajjad Ahmed, the zero pollution three-wheeler, made completely from scrap, brought into sharp focus the negative effects of fuel-run vehicles. “We have to work towards reducing emission. This electric auto can serve as a public utility vehicle,” Mr Ahmed said.
Mr Ahmed, who runs an electronics store along with his son on SJP Road, also deals in scrap. He used discarded chairs for the driver as well as the passengers seats, a water meter to record the km and a serviced engine for his auto. The class 12 drop-out said he always wanted to innovate. “I have always found the area of renewable energy and emission-free vehicles interesting. After developing a two-wheeler and a four-wheeler, the auto seemed more useful for the city,” he said.

...

[Ausraja]

Nirani has confirmed today that not all MOU's may Materialize(in one of kannada news).He also said that he would be happy even if 60% of MOU's are succesfull.The facts from investments in karnataka is that only ~50% of proposals are normally Materialized.

Lets also not be crazy about this so called investers because if I being a businessman would normally be interested in making profits rather then giving the government benefits from my investments or the people of the state getting benefitted from my proposal.

One of the proposals that i saw was for an investement of 40 crores in ~1000acres of land in north karnataka which is a clear case of land grabbing and real estate.if i was GOK then would have blasted such propaosal as gok has to provide subsidised electricity , water , tax , roads , airport etc etc for this so called invester along with providing farmers land.

I am not anti development but we need to give a clear thought about what we need and what fits into our way of life to clear this projects.In fact its all about developments to make peoples life better and not about allowing some one to grab our land/mineral wealth etc and brand it as development.

[ChennaiIndian]

This is worrisome.

Did Gujarat get 100% success in signed promised MoUs to actual projects? In general, what is the success rate?

[gentem]

Originally Posted by avinash2060

Rs 3.92 lakh crore promised for State
GIM: Govt yet to make details of MoUs public
Bangalore, June 5, DHNS:

The State government signed 361 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with investors, who promised to invest a whopping Rs 3.92 lakh crore in the State during the two-day Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) held at Palace grounds.


As many as 7,600 delegates took part in the two- day meet, stated a release

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...e-details.html

Steel, Cement and Power make lion share. If only karnataka had enough electricity then investment would have come double...


For all socialists: Land required for industries signed in GIM is less than 1% of agricultural land of the state. - Nirani in TV9 interview

[gentem]

Karnataka bags investments worth Rs 4 trillion
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ktaka-rea...7.html?from=tn

Bangalore: Karnataka concluded the Global Investors Meet (GIM 2010) late Friday on a high note, with investments worth Rs.4 trillion (about $.85 billion) flowing in for about 400 projects to be implemented over next four-five years to generate employment potential for 865,000 people.

The two-day mega event, held for the second time after a decade, witnessed agreements being signed even at the valedictory function by seven firms and 20 state-run and private banks with the state government committing funds for infrastructure.

Among the leading firms that entered into memoranda of understanding (MoU) in the concluding session are Tata Metaliks for enhancing its steel production capacity to three million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 0.7 mtpa at an investment of Rs.15,000 crore (Rs.150 billion) and Zuari Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd committing to invest Rs.650 crore for one mtpa plant in Uttara Kannada district in the coastal region.

Similarly, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Note Mudran Ltd has signed an MoU to set up a 12 mtpa currency note paper manufacturing plant at Mysore for Rs.1,180 crore.

"We need to take this momentum forward and accelerate industrialisation in Karnataka with an inclusive growth. The state government should set up a task force with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to achieve the set goals within the timeframe," Tata Steel vice-chairman B. Muthuraman said at the valedictory function.

Among the major banks that have entered into MoU with the state government are State Bank of India (SBI), Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank, Vijaya Bank and Axis Bank.

Union Labour Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, assured the state government of the central government's full support in facilitating the execution of various projects in diverse sectors.

"There are no short-cuts in this approach and unless we have the infrastructure in place, we cannot expect investors to come and set up industries in the state," Kharge reminded the state government.

In his valedictory address, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa made clear that the agreements or the total volume of investments generated was only a first step in the long journey of the state's industrial progress.

"A new era of industrial revolution has begun in Karnataka. Our government will not spare any effort in fulfilling its promises to the investors, including meeting deadlines," Yeddyurappa told the participants.

State industries department Principal Secretary V.P. Baligar said the state government had received 88 fresh proposals worth Rs.90,000 crore in the infrastructure sector under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

"These proposals will be taken up at the next state's high level committee meeting along with 56 more industry proposals worth Rs.78,395 crore that were received in the last one week," Baligar said.

Of the 400 projects, 208 were signed on the first day of the GIM (Thursday) worth Rs.3.29 trillion (Rs.3.3 lakh crore).

Iron & steel sector attracted 38 proposals worth Rs.2.21 trillion (Rs.2.2 lakh crore), followed by cement sector with nine projects worth Rs.36,991 crore (Rs.370 billion) and energy sector with eight projects worth Rs.25,214 crore (Rs.252 billion).

Among the major steel projects are from ArcelorMittal, Posco and Bramhani Karnataka Ltd, which have proposed to set up six mtpa plants each at an estimated cost of Rs.30,000-36,000 crore in Bellary and Bagalkote districts.

The state government has set up a cabinet sub-committee headed by the chief minister to sanction additional incentives on a case-by-case basis and depending on the quantum of investment.

[engineer.akash]

Essar to invest $4.7 bn in steel plant in K’taka

Bloomberg
Posted: Friday, Jun 04, 2010 at 2340 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Jun 04, 2010 at 2340 hrs IST

Essar Steel, India’s fourth-biggest producer, plans to invest Rs 220 billion to build a steel plant in Karnataka, chairman Shashi Ruia said. The plant will have annual capacity of 6 million metric tonne, Ruia said on Thursday at the global investor conference in Bangalore. The mill—to be located in Bagalkot district—will be commissioned in the year ending March 31, 2015, spokesman Manish Kedia said.

Essar plans to add steel capacity as India spends Rs 1,74,000 crore to set up road, port and power infrastructure by March. Steel demand is expected to grow at 9% this fiscal year as higher income pushes up demand for housing, cars and appliances, GK Basak, executive secretary of the steel ministry’s joint plant committee, said on April 6. Essar aims to double production capacity to 14 million tonne this calendar year, chief executive officer Malay Mukherjee had said on February 16.

FE

[gentem]

Originally Posted by Krishnamoorthy K

BS

Karnataka government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 29.20 crore for the recently concluded global investors’ meet (GIM) in Bangalore, minister for large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani said.

Replying to members’ queries in the state legislative council, here on Wednesday, he said the department of industries and commerce was still scrutinising the bills and the exact amount of money spent for the mega event would be worked out later. During the event state signed MoUs for an investment of close to Rs 4 lakh crore on June 3 and June 4, 2010.

Out of Rs 29 crore spent on GIM, the state government had released Rs 14 crore and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had released Rs 10 crore and the balance Rs 5 crore was yet to be released by the government. The total expenditure incurred for advertisements released in national, state and district level newspapers by the department of industries and commerce was about Rs 3.5 crore. For advertisements released in international journals Rs 92 lakh was spent, he said.

Giving details of the projects cleared at the GIM, he said all the projects, if executed, would require about 80,000 acres land, 3,338 million litres of water per day and 3,893 Mw of power.

Apart from providing land, water and power, the proposed projects would be extended incentives and concessions as per the industrial policy of the state and policies of other departments. The government would make all efforts to provide early clearances from all the departments of the state, Nirani stated.

He said global investors’ meet was held twice in the state during the last 10 years and only 120 projects, cleared during the first GIM held in June 2000, have been implemented.

Replying to another question, he said during the last 10 years, the state has attracted Rs 30,675 crore worth of foreign direct investment into the state.

Emphasis mine, that was the summary

[gentem]

Farmers ready to part with land
Anil Kumar M, TNN, Oct 25, 2010, 12.42am IST

BANGALORE: Karnataka's political classes might be striking deals and engaging in a war of words, but this has in no way affected the smooth progress of work for some of the multi-billion dollar industrial projects in the state.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, which plans to set up a 6-million tonne per annum plant in Bellary district with an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore, is now seeing farmers come forward to accept compensation for their land, to be acquired for the project.

Initially, certain farmer groups in Bellary had opposed the steel giant's plans as they were seeking compensation higher than what was fixed by the state government. ArcelorMittal would be requiring around 4,000 acres for its steel plant and the government has fixed land compensation rates in three slabs -- Rs 8 lakh, Rs 12 lakh and Rs 16 lakh per acre.

According to large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani, farmers have started accepting the compensation amount and he expects this number to rise substantially in the coming weeks. Giving other sops to the farming community, the minister said that priority of jobs in the ArcelorMittal steel plant would be given to those farmers who come forward to accept the compensation amount. "The new development land compensation policy by the government will add a great deal for the land losers,'' Nirani told The Times of India.

READY AND RARING

ArcelorMittal is the first to get off the block in setting up its steel plant in Karnataka, being among the many who signed agreements with the government during the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in June 2010. At GIM, Karnataka received investment proposals worth Rs 4 lakh crore from diverse industries and sectors.

Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has already formed a cabinet sub-committee to dole out incentives for proposals signed during GIM. Further, there is also another committee headed by chief secretary S V Ranganath, monitoring all the investment proposals on a monthly basis.

Nirani said the industries department also formed a separate team to monitor the progress of the investment proposals. "Earlier, it was industries who were asking us about the progress of their investment proposals but now it is the other way round,'' he remarked.

STEEL FIRMS PAY UP FOR LAND

During the GIM, it was the iron and steel sector which attracted the highest attention with investment proposals worth Rs 2 lakh crore, which included companies such as Posco, Bhushan Steel and Essar. The state government has earmarked the districts of Bellary, Raichur, Koppal, Bagalkot, Gadag and Haveri as the proposed steel zone.

Most of these companies have already deposited huge sums of money with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for acquisition of land. Posco has deposited Rs 60 crore and sought 2,500 acres in Koppal district. Essar Steel has deposited Rs 25 crore to acquire 1,500 acres in Gadag district for its 6 mtpa plant. Besides these steel majors, the others who have also deposited the money towards land acquisition include Brahmani Steel, seeking 5,000 acres in Bellary district, as well as Bhushan Steel for 4,000 acres in the same district. Surya Vijayanagar Steel has sought 500 acres in Bagalkot district.


Read more: Farmers ready to part with land - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...#ixzz13KsXW8PA

[gentem]

Vibrant Gujarat: India Inc vows Rs 21L cr

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said the state has been able to attract investments to the tune of Rs 20.83 lakh crore during the two-day long Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011.
Speaking at the final session of the summit, Modi said as many as 7,936 MoUs were signed by the state government with several industrial houses to invest in the state.

guj meet is 5 times bigger than ktaka's GIM bangalore had 4 lakh crores

Karnataka inks Rs2,200 crore worth MoUs on the first day of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit
Published: Thursday, Jan 13, 2011, 16:56 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

"We have learnt from our mistakes and now we are building a land bank in our state. We lost Tata Nano project due to lack of enough land and Gujarat got it, as it had the land ready," said VP Baligar, principal secretary for commerce and industries department of the Karnataka government on the first day of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on Wednesday.

A delegation of nearly 100, comprising more than 60 businessmen & industrialists and Karnataka government officials, are participating in the event.

The Karnataka government received some on the spot responses after their presentation in the seminar.

"We have received three expressions of interests after our seminar. So far we have got 15 MoUs signed in the steel, textile, engineering and cement sectors for investments of around Rs2200 crores," said Baligar.

Talking about VG '11, he said, "We also had a similar kind of investment summit 10 months ago and it was our first summit.
Gujarat which has organised 5 summits in last 10 years has a permanent structure while ours was held in a temporary one."
Baligar said they are creating a land bank to facilitate prompt investment in the state promptly.

2 thousand crores against 20 lakh crores...

[naveen_blr]

This was the first time Karnataka has had something like this...it takes time to build a brand which was ruined for so many years by petty politicians.

[avinash2060]

1>Infosys ,TCS and WIpro seems to be agitated by the State's Apathy
2>AERO Park whats the progress here
3>Global Financial District
4>Hard ware and semi Conductor front??

It seems BJP is busy allocating land to it's kith and kin .This is what Infosys Said

CITY WILL SOON LOSE INFOSYS EDGE TO PUNE
Thanks to the apathy of successive Karnataka governments,the company has decided to shift its operational base to Pune.Within a year,its Pune campus will surpass the Bangalore headquarters both in terms of employee strength and the built-up area

Sameer Ranjan Bakshi sameerranjan.bakshi@timesgroup.com


Bangalore,the Silicon Valley of India.The tag has been the citys pride.But now,it is about to be robbed of the tag blame it on the apathy of successive state governments.Over the years,the netas had been busy getting land allotted promptly to their kith and kin at throwaway prices.And companies like Infosys Technologies,the mascot of Indian infotech industry,had been kept waiting for the land it needed for expansion.
Infosys made several representations to successive governments,seeking land near Sarjapur Road,but got nothing apart from bundles of assurances.The company waited quite some time,expecting the state to grant it land for setting up a second software development centre in the city.But in the end,it ran out of patience and shifted expansion plans to Pune.

Now,Infosys,though headquartered in the city,will have its largest operational base in Pune.Speaking to Bangalore Mirror,T A Mohandas Pai,human resources director,Infosys,said there had been a shift in the focus of the company,which was once synonymous with Bangalore.In another 12 months time,Pune will have more seats/employees than our Bangalore campus, he said.Even the Infosys-Pune campus would soon become bigger than that of Infosys-Bangalore.
But why would a Bangalore-based company choose to strengthen its base in Pune After all,Bangalore is the information technology (IT) capital of India.An IT industry source said,The move has got nothing to do with the cost factor.Blame it on Karnatakas political indifference and bureaucratic laxity in land allotment and registration.
Pai said,It is easier to get land in Pune than in Bangalore.For three years we tried in vain to complete the land registration process in Bangalore.Now,we have more land in Pune than Bangalore.Honest people cant work in Bangalore.
Asked whether the shift in Infosyss focus would affect Brand Bangalore,Pai made no comment.But IT industry sources painted a grim future.According to them,the political situation in the state is making IT companies change perception about Bangalore as their preferred base.The corrupt leaders and the lethargic bureaucracy have frustrated India Inc time and again.So,the companies have decided to shift base.Giants like TCS and Wipro have kept Bangalore out of their major expansion plans.HCL is looking at centres like Chennai and Pune.The semi-conductor industry,too,is shipping out of the city to Noida and Pune, rued a source.
Bureaucrats,when told about the bleak scenario,chose to keep mum.One among them,who has recently served in the infrastructure department,said,There are so many conflicting signals sent out by our political bosses that we prefer to adopt the wait-and-watch policy.

TELL-TALE FIGURES

A RECENTLY-RELEASED fact sheet pertaining to Infosyss third quarter (Q3) results for fiscal 2011 has outlined how its Pune centre is all set to overtake Bangalore both in terms of number of techies employed and built-up area of the company campus.Infosys-Bangalore currently has 28,905 employees.In Pune,it will soon have 32,914 employees.An ITindustry tracker told Bangalore Mirror,Conventionally,a corporate firm has the maximum number of employees working at its headquarters.However,things might turn out very different for Infosys Technologies,as its Pune centre has grown much more than its Bangalore HQ.Brand Bangalore will take a beating as it is proof that IT firms are looking for greener pastures away from the tech capital of India. Even in terms of campus size,Infosys-Pune will be bigger.The built-up area of Infosys-Bangalore is 42,94,728 sq ft,while the Pune campus will soon expand to 54,07,284 sq ft.On both the parameters employee strength and campus area Bangalore will fall behind Pune on the Infy turf, the industry tracker commented.

[avinash2060]

BANGALORE: Lambasting the state government for its lackadaisical approach with regard to acquisition of land for industrial projects, the high court on Thursday said it was giving fancy names to its schemes, but was actually doing 420 business.

The court said the government is chanting the mantra of development as gangajal to wash off its shady deals.

"This is nothing but economic colonization,'' Justice D V Shylendra Kumar strongly observed during the hearing of the petitions challenging acquisition of lands for the 1,069-acre Aerospace project near BIA.

"From the facts placed before court, the project doesn't seem to be bonafide. For a requirement of 35-odd acres, why apply for 1,069 acres? One of the parties even says that he will not disclose his identity. These so-called high-level committees are transacting with unknown people even without checking their credentials and giving them vast extent of private lands,'' the judge said.

HC questions govt's liquor policy

The government's decision to allot bar and restaurant licences near several tourist places across the state came for sharp criticism on Thursday as the high court asked it to either withdraw or be prepared to face the music.

"Under this so-called tourism policy, you have given bar licences in Muddenahalli, the birth place of Sir M Visvesvaraya, and near Kukke Subramanya temple. People go to pray and you want to give liquor licences there? What kind of policy is this? You place all the details,'' a division bench headed by Justice N Kumar observed while indicating to the authorities to withdraw the permission.

The bench adjourned hearing of the writ appeal filed by bar and restaurant owners to next week. The owners had challenged the single bench order asking them to close down their businesses.

`Why orthopaedist in a mental hospital?'

The state government on Thursday submitted before the court that the process of recruitment of doctors in government hospitals will be completed in three months time by amending the Cadre and recruitment rules.

A statement to this effect was made before a division bench hearing the 1996 PIL relating to mental health.

The bench asked the government to file a statement on the distribution of drugs to all the mental health units (clinics) set up in all the 30 districts by next week.

During the hearing, the bench took a dig at the government for appointing an orthopaedic surgeon as the Director of Karnataka Institute of Mental Health, Dharwad.

"This speaks about the government's style of functioning. What would an orthopaedic surgeon do in a mental hospital,'' the bench asked.

Read more: Don't allow 420 business to flourish, HC tells government - The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...#ixzz1BeR2OQ21

[bharath.enc]

Originally Posted by avinash2060

1>Infosys ,TCS and WIpro seems to be agitated by the State's Apathy
2>AERO Park whats the progress here
3>Global Financial District
4>Hard ware and semi Conductor front??

It seems BJP is busy allocating land to it's kith and kin .This is what Infosys Said

CITY WILL SOON LOSE INFOSYS EDGE TO PUNE
Thanks to the apathy of successive Karnataka governments,the company has decided to shift its operational base to Pune.Within a year,its Pune campus will surpass the Bangalore headquarters both in terms of employee strength and the built-up area

Sameer Ranjan Bakshi sameerranjan.bakshi@timesgroup.com


Bangalore,the Silicon Valley of India.The tag has been the citys pride.But now,it is about to be robbed of the tag blame it on the apathy of successive state governments.Over the years,the netas had been busy getting land allotted promptly to their kith and kin at throwaway prices.And companies like Infosys Technologies,the mascot of Indian infotech industry,had been kept waiting for the land it needed for expansion.
Infosys made several representations to successive governments,seeking land near Sarjapur Road,but got nothing apart from bundles of assurances.The company waited quite some time,expecting the state to grant it land for setting up a second software development centre in the city.But in the end,it ran out of patience and shifted expansion plans to Pune.

Now,Infosys,though headquartered in the city,will have its largest operational base in Pune.Speaking to Bangalore Mirror,T A Mohandas Pai,human resources director,Infosys,said there had been a shift in the focus of the company,which was once synonymous with Bangalore.In another 12 months time,Pune will have more seats/employees than our Bangalore campus, he said.Even the Infosys-Pune campus would soon become bigger than that of Infosys-Bangalore.
But why would a Bangalore-based company choose to strengthen its base in Pune After all,Bangalore is the information technology (IT) capital of India.An IT industry source said,The move has got nothing to do with the cost factor.Blame it on Karnatakas political indifference and bureaucratic laxity in land allotment and registration.
Pai said,It is easier to get land in Pune than in Bangalore.For three years we tried in vain to complete the land registration process in Bangalore.Now,we have more land in Pune than Bangalore.Honest people cant work in Bangalore.
Asked whether the shift in Infosyss focus would affect Brand Bangalore,Pai made no comment.But IT industry sources painted a grim future.According to them,the political situation in the state is making IT companies change perception about Bangalore as their preferred base.The corrupt leaders and the lethargic bureaucracy have frustrated India Inc time and again.So,the companies have decided to shift base.Giants like TCS and Wipro have kept Bangalore out of their major expansion plans.HCL is looking at centres like Chennai and Pune.The semi-conductor industry,too,is shipping out of the city to Noida and Pune, rued a source.
Bureaucrats,when told about the bleak scenario,chose to keep mum.One among them,who has recently served in the infrastructure department,said,There are so many conflicting signals sent out by our political bosses that we prefer to adopt the wait-and-watch policy.

TELL-TALE FIGURES

A RECENTLY-RELEASED fact sheet pertaining to Infosyss third quarter (Q3) results for fiscal 2011 has outlined how its Pune centre is all set to overtake Bangalore both in terms of number of techies employed and built-up area of the company campus.Infosys-Bangalore currently has 28,905 employees.In Pune,it will soon have 32,914 employees.An ITindustry tracker told Bangalore Mirror,Conventionally,a corporate firm has the maximum number of employees working at its headquarters.However,things might turn out very different for Infosys Technologies,as its Pune centre has grown much more than its Bangalore HQ.Brand Bangalore will take a beating as it is proof that IT firms are looking for greener pastures away from the tech capital of India. Even in terms of campus size,Infosys-Pune will be bigger.The built-up area of Infosys-Bangalore is 42,94,728 sq ft,while the Pune campus will soon expand to 54,07,284 sq ft.On both the parameters employee strength and campus area Bangalore will fall behind Pune on the Infy turf, the industry tracker commented.

Bari hedrisode aythu.... firstu avara employees bitu hogod thadili...
evara jothe times group avru bere serikolthare......

[avinash2060]

[sunilkumar]

Similar GIM implimentation status published in Delhi's TOI and Hindustan Times newspaper (middle 4 sheets).

Hope yeddy will release more money(this-time budget) on to KA/Bangalore infrastructure for better connectivity.

[gentem]

good job in tracking this thing. go yeddy and nirani

[CapeClubber]

If you see clearly, none of these projects are big ones. All the projects shown has little investment attached to it.

What is the status of the big-ticket investments ? ...they should also publish those.

[think-tank]

Originally Posted by CapeClubber

If you see clearly, none of these projects are big ones. All the projects shown has little investment attached to it.

What is the status of the big-ticket investments ? ...they should also publish those.

Such deals won't be finalized within a year, keep an eye on Industries and Technology section. It's also worth noting that there is abundant employment in Karnataka right now which is attracting more investors specially in aero-space and bio-technology sector- which requires high-skilled engineers and researchers.

[gentem]

2011 is year of farmers, says CM
TNN, Feb 18, 2011, 04.35am IST

BANGALORE: Rs 52,000crore. That's the target the state government hopes to net in the upcoming agriculture global summit likely to be held in June 2011, to boost agriculture and agro-process industries.

"2011 will be the year of farmers for Karnataka. We have decided to create a revolution in the sector. To ensure this, I'll present a special agriculture budget on February 24," chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said after distributing prizes to farmers on Thursday.

"Even the opposition will envy this budget,'' he said, rejecting allegations that the special agriculture budget is a gimmick.

Agriculture GIM coming soon 50k crore investments is not less compared to 3 lakh crore of GIM 2010

[avinash2060]

Sudipto Mondal

Complainant A. Alam Pasha says he has lost Rs. 15 crore



BIG PROMISES:The project was approved during

BANGALORE: A Rs. 600-crore housing project approved during the Global Investors Meet in June 2010 has run aground, allegedly on the basis of a forged letter, according to the investor who signed an MoU with the Government.

A. Alam Pasha, Managing Director, Pash Space International Ltd., who proposed to build 2,500 houses for the economically weaker sections at Devanahalli, told The Hindu that cancellation of the allotment of 26 acres for his project had left him deep in debt and embarrassed before foreign investors who supported his venture.

Governor petitioned

He has now petitioned the Governor.

“Somebody forged my signature and company letterhead and wrote a letter to the Government on January 20, 2011 saying we were not interested in going ahead with the project,” Mr. Pasha said.

On March 21, Mr. Pasha complained to the Karnataka Udyog Mitra, the State-level agency that acts as a facilitator between investors and the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), that the letter purportedly written by him was forged.

Karnataka Udyog Mitra Managing Director M. Maheshwar Rao, when contacted, said “the complaint is being processed”.

Copies of documents made available to The Hindu show that this allegedly forged letter was submitted just four days before the SHLCC met on January 24, 2011 to discuss the future of the projects approved during the Global Investors' Meet. The SHLCC is headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, with Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani and Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath as members.

Based on the “forged” letter, the SHLCC cancelled the allotment of 26 acres of land in Devanahalli to Mr. Pasha's company on March 11, 2011. Mr. Pasha says he was tipped off about the cancellation during one of his routine visits to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board office on March 18. “I did not believe it at first; but on March 20, I received a registered post containing a Government Order that confirmed the cancellation.”


BIG PROMISES:The project was approved during
‘Panel conspired'

In a complaint submitted to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on March 28, Mr. Pasha alleged that the SHLCC “conspired to fabricate the letter” and “passed a resolution to suits its needs”. He also says in his complaint that the same 26 acres was later allotted to a prominent Bangalore-based real estate company.

Mr. Pasha said he had already invested Rs. 15 crore in the project and was in final discussions with foreign direct investors from Singapore and London.
http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/02/stor...0259800100.htm