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 - Honorary Chairman |
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Presently he heads Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP) as Managing Director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd., (NICE), on a landmark project of Express Way connecting Bangalore and Mysore. Interestingly, Ashok Kheny is a great lover of humour. For a man, who is so busy, the love towards cartoons comes as a surprise. "Cartoons, unlike reality, convey the true meaning of an action without hurting anyone. It adds humour to life" he says. Appreciating the work of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists, which had a soft launch few years ago, Kheny has decided to dedicate a Cartoon Museum, first of its kind in the world, hosting A-2-Z about cartoons. A Master Degree holder in Management Science and Engineering from Woster Polytechnic (Woster, Massachusetts), Ashok Kheny was born in a village named Ranjol Kheny in Bidar district. He was an official at the Penn Central, later Conrail, a railway company in the United States. Later, he floated his own company SAB Engineering and Construction Inc. and Railway Systems Design Inc. (RSD). The SAB implemented some of the prestigious projects in California, Newyork, Florida, Detroit and Massachusetts. The US administration recognised Kheny's contribution and in 1987, President Ronald Reagan honoured him with the "Outstanding Businessman of the Year of a Minority Community Award". This was the utmost recognition for Kheny who hailed from a small hamlet in Bidar. Back home, in India, he is now probably making this the most scrutinised project in Karnataka and maybe even in India. He will be the proud developer of Express Corridor between Bangalore and Mysore. It proposes to cut down the travel time between these two cities to 1.5 hours from the 3.5 hours it takes today. The multi-crore project has utilised the services of the Satellite Imagery Wing of the prestigious Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) - National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA). The NRSA used its Telemetry Tracking and Command (TTC) function, (carried out by ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Centre's (ISTRAC) ground station located at Bangalore) to determine the Land required for the Project. As for the project itself, a recent cartoon in Kannada Prabha by eminent cartoonist V. G. Narendra, drew the attention of Kheny, which according to him depicts, it the best. When the Supreme Court directed the State Government to clear all the hurdles for the Express Way Corridor, the cartoon naming "Nandiya Havali", showed two of the policy makers hanging at the throes of a bull. Staying at States for nearly 30 years, Kheny is still a proud Indian. "I am from this land, and I want to be recognised as an Indian, always" Kheny adds. |
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Developments in the NICE Project is a cartoonist's delight. And who can appreciate it better than Ashok Kheny himself, an avid fan of cartoons and its creators. 
