Exclusive: Route altered for key Bihar expressway, land owned by Deputy CM aide under cloud

The route, if modified, could result in the demolition of over 150 homes and dozens of shops, as well as a section of the 65-year-old Kedar Sant Ramashray College, where over 6,000 students study.

When contacted, Choudhary told The Indian Express, “I have not used any political influence. All people from Sarairanjan belong to me. It is entirely up to the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) to say if they have changed the alignment. It is not my domain.”

The Indian Express also spoke to Bobby Ishwar, who said, “Those who have been making allegations of Vijay babu protecting the 10.5 bighas of land in the original alignment must know that six bighas of my land is affected in the current proposed alignment. If influence was used, I could have also saved these six bighas.”

NHAI officials and Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary promised to look into the issue. “Even though it is a central government project, it is the state government that decides the route. We will look into the matter and address concerns of the people,” the CM said. “We are asking NHAI and Bihar’s Road Construction Department to look into the alleged change in alignment.”

NHAI’s Bihar Regional Officer N L Yeotkar said that “as per regulations, alignment, once notified, cannot be changed”. “I am forwarding the matter to the Chhapra project director. If there is any change in the original alignment, it is a serious matter,” he said.

NHAI project director in Chhapra, Raju Kumar, said, “Once the alignment is fixed, it cannot be changed.”

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, who is the MP from Ujiyarpur, told The Indian Express, “I am aware of the changed alignment issue. I have already met the Union Minister of State, MoRTH, regarding this. I am also taking it up with Union Minister Gadkari to ensure that there is an order from his department for the NHAI to revert to the original alignment to avoid habitable areas.”

Residents who stand to lose their homes and shops if the NHAI proceeds with the altered alignment between the 48- and 53-kilometre mark of the proposed expressway said that Choudhary had, in May last year, assured them that their habitation would not be disrupted. In a Facebook post from May 8, 2025, Choudhary wrote, “I met people, likely to be affected with Patna-Purnea Expressway project, and heard their grievances. People expressed their concerns with the officials concerned. We will deal with all issues with sensitivity and resolve them amicably.”

Choudhary, who was a state minister at the time, had also said that the Deputy Collector Land Reforms would propose a third alternative route to the NHAI. However, that proposal was never submitted, and residents say they only recently learned that the NHAI was proceeding with the altered route when land surveyors began approaching them over the last two months.

The project is currently in its pre-land acquisition stage.

Asked about the May 2025 meeting, Choudhary said, “Some aggrieved people had come to meet me last year. I had directed them to the officials concerned to address their grievances.”

Asked how an MLA could make such a promise, Raju Kumar, the NHAI project director in Chhapra, said, “It (the May 2025 meeting) could be for service roads and other concerns. I can say one thing, we stick to the original alignment.”

The project, its impact

The proposed six-lane greenfield corridor, spanning 244.93 kilometres with an estimated blueprint cost of Rs 18,000 crore, is designed to reshape north-south connectivity in Bihar. According to NHAI guidelines, greenfield expressways are ideally routed away from densely populated residential zones, prioritising single-crop agricultural lands or open lowlands (chaurs). The proposed expressway will require a 90-metre-wide land corridor and will feature 21 major bridges, 140 minor bridges, and 9 railway overbridges as it cuts through Vaishali, Samastipur, and Madhepura to reach Purnea. It is expected to shorten the travel time between Patna and Purnea from the current eight hours to just four hours.

Local residents say the initial independent survey conducted by the NHAI adhered to these guidelines. The original path was slated to pass seamlessly through the Dhanhar Chaur (lowlands) along the southern borders of Kankalipur and Jhakhra, drawing no objections from the farming community.

However, those who wrote to Gadkari allege that under pressure from “a few politically and socially influential individuals”, the project’s trajectory was deliberately distorted and a curve was “engineered” into the alignment. This bend steers the massive highway straight into densely populated residential and commercial neighbourhoods, they claimed.

If this modified route is implemented, they say, over 150 homes and dozens of shops and other commercial spaces could be demolished across Sarairanjan Bazar, Kankalipur, and Jhakhra. According to NHAI documents, a section of the main building of the 65-year-old Kedar Sant Ramashray (KSR) College in Sarairanjan could be razed. The intermediate and degree college, which receives aid from the Bihar government, caters to over 6,000 students.

The project documents reviewed by The Indian Express show that the first Gazette notification published by MoRTH on March 13, 2025, routed the project through the villages of Jhakhra, Surmar, and Wajidpur Meyari in the Sarairanjan taluk. The second Gazette notification on March 26, 2025, mentioned Kabra (a vast tract of greenfield land) and Karihara in Sarairanjan and Ujiyarpur.

The first official signs of the altered alignment in Sarairanjan appeared in MoRTH’s third Gazette notification, dated March 6, 2026, which detailed a changed route between the 48- and 53-kilometre mark. This updated route lists 17 plots in Harlochanpur, 28 in Bhagwatpur, 32 in Sarairanjan, and 160 in Jhakhra village. Of the 237 plots earmarked, 224 are individual private plots, including the degree college at Jhakhra.

Ranjeet Nirguni, a BJP leader from Sarairanjan leading the opposition to the move, said, “The latest Gazette notification shows a clear subversion of the alignment. While only a fraction of Jhakhra village was part of the original route, almost the entire residential area now falls under the revised plan. Where only five to 10 houses were affected under the original alignment, nearly 150 houses and shops are now facing demolition. I have brought this matter to the attention of Nitin Gadkari. We hope the central government acts swiftly to revert to the original alignment and avert organised public protests.”

Puja Kumari, the Mukhya Parshad (chief councillor) of the Sarairanjan Nagar Panchayat, had also registered a formal protest against the altered route with Gadkari last July, when rumours first started circulating of a potential change in alignment. She had written, “The changed route would result in the demolition of the Jhakhra college and numerous houses and shops. Please revert to the original alignment.” She had red-flagged the issue when she witnessed NHAI officials and the local CO office conducting land surveys on the route.

In the Brahmin-dominated neighbourhoods of Sarairanjan, residents such as Sushil Jha, Dinesh Jha, Umesh Jha, and Kashinath Jha face the prospect of their homes being razed if the NHAI proceeds. Sushil Jha said, “I stand to lose my house, which sits on over eight katha of land. There are at least 15 houses in our immediate vicinity facing demolition.”

Parmanand Ishwar, who donated eight acres of land for the construction of the degree college at Jhakhra, said, “We cannot accept this altered alignment, and we will not let our college be destroyed. Even if most of the college building does not fall under the new alignment, its grounds and a portion of the building will be affected. Our MLA owes us an answer.” College principal Bipin Jha said, “About 6,000 students are enrolled in the college. The closest degree college in Dalsinghsarai is 20 kilometres away.”

Even as public discontent simmers, the administrative machinery is moving rapidly. Records indicate that Samastipur’s District Registry Office has already implemented hiked Minimum Valuation Register rates for the affected sectors. Simultaneously, the MoRTH has issued a Central Gazette Notification to formally initiate land acquisition for a 64.7-kilometre stretch running directly through Samastipur district.

WRITEBACK

Responding to the report ‘Residents say expressway plan altered to spare Dy CM aide’s land’, dated June 15, 2026, the National Highways Authority of India has said the report is factually incorrect and misleading.

“The alignment of the Patna-Purnea Expressway was finalised and approved on January 15, 2025, by the Alignment Approval Committee (AAC) headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, after evaluating multiple alignment options based on socioeconomic considerations and IRC guidelines. The Government of Bihar was also represented during the alignment approval process,” it stated.

“There has been no change in the approved alignment between Km 48 and Km 53 in Sarai Ranjan, Samastipur district. All and acquisition notifications issued under the National Highways Act have been published strictly along the originally approved alignment, and no deviation has been made at any stage,” the NHAI stated.

It stated that “the main building of KSR College is not affected by the project. Only a small portion of its land is under acquisition”; “the approved alignment affects approximately 92 residential/commercial structures, whereas the alternative alignment referred to in the report would have impacted around 255 structures, resulting in significantly higher displacement”; and “the notification issued on March 6, 2026 pertains to the same alignment approved by the AAC in January 2025.”

THE INDIAN EXPRESS RESPONDS

The report is based on field visits, red flags raised by residents, and conversations with officials. The NHAI does not explain why three greenfield villages – Surmar (292), Surmar (293) and Bajidpur Myari – that were among the eight villages in MoRTH’s first gazette notification dated March 13, 2025, were dropped from the final gazette notification dated March 6, 2026.

Nor does it address two letters sent to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari — one by residents on June 1, 2026, alleging “arbitrary and politically motivated” alteration to the expressway, and another by the Mukhya Parshad
of the Sarairanjan Nagar Panchayat in July 2025, which stated that “the changed route would result in the demolition of the Jhakhra college and numerous houses and shops” and asked authorities to “revert to the original alignment”.
In fact, as the report stated, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who was a state minister at the time, had heard people’s grievances in May 2025, and posted on Facebook, “We will deal with all issues with sensitivity and resolve them amicably.” Choudhary had also said that the Deputy Collector Land Reforms would propose a third alternative route to the NHAI.

The report also quoted Choudhary, NHAI’s Bihar Regional Officer N L Yeotkar, and NHAI project director in Chhapra, Raju Kumar. Both NHAI officials were quoted as saying that the “alignment, once notified, cannot be changed”.

The report also quoted Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who said he was asking the “HAI and Bihar’s Road Construction Department to look into the alleged change in alignment”. It also quoted Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, MP from Ujiyarpur, as saying, “I am aware of the changed alignment issue. I have already met the Union Minister of State, MoRTH, regarding this. I am also taking this up with Union Minister Gadkari to ensure that there is an order from his department for the NHAl to revert to the original alignment to avoid habitable areas.”