CORRUPTION PLOTS
The Ethics of Space in the Millennial City
MANTRI TECH ZONE:
AN SEZ STORY
In December 2013, the Karnataka Lokayukta (anti-corruption ombudsman court) held a meeting to look into activist charges of corruption against an 80-acre real estate project (about three times the size of Google’s headquarters in California), the “Mantri Techzone,” ostensibly a “Special Economic Zone” (SEZ), being built on peripheral and marshy swampland connecting two of Bangalore’s largest wetlands, the Bellandur and Agara lakes. The activists, mainly middle-class residents of south Bangalore, had charged various government departments for permitting the project without environmental and utility clearances and in contravention of land use designations. Multiple debates erupted at the meeting. Who gave permission for the project, now rapidly in the construction phase? Was the wetland—ostensibly, a public resource—acquired legally? If so, how was that even possible? Wetlands are unique, materially and jurisdictionally speaking. In Bangalore a conflicting array of state agencies, villages, and private land owners lay claim to wetlands, making them highly exploitable. How can the project be referred to as an “SEZ,” a title once reserved for employment-generating industrial projects benefiting the "public interest," when this development is, in fact, a glitzy real estate venture with a multi-level car park (for 17,000 cars), technology back offices, private hospitals, malls, luxury hotels, and condominium complexes? Why did construction commence despite lack of clearances?
Adding fuel to activist claims was a damning report by prominent ecologists (commissioned by the activists themselves) from the Indian Institute of Science. The report, titled “Conservation of Bellandur Wetlands: Obligation of Decision Makers to Ensure Intergenerational Equity,” referred to the SEZ real estate development as an “ecological disaster,” pinpointing, in particular, its alteration of storm water channels and grave threat to flooding throughout the city (the city has suffered from chronic flooding over the last decade).
Like many corruption plots, this one intersects with several topoi; see also entries under "frontier" and "'world-class' zone." The label of “SEZ” (Special Economic Zone) has been used liberally to push through projects like the Mantri Tech Zone through single-window clearance mechanisms. Activists challenging the project have argued that, unlike is often claimed with SEZ projects, the Tech Zone project on Bangalore’s peripheral wetlands will produce few economic opportunities for residents.
A blue corrugated metal fence demarcates land for the Mantri Tech Zone project