Tags:
Journalism of Courage
While the Yamuna Expressway is back on track after last months farmer agitation near Aligarh,the fate of the more ambitious Ganga Expressway project of the UP government hangs in the balance. The Expressway,which envisages linking Balia in the east with Greater Noida on Delhis doorstep in the west,remains stuck since Chief Minister Mayawati had unveiled it on January 15,2008,her 52nd birthday.
Mayawati had then announced that the around 1,047-km,eight-lane access-controlled expressway,which would halve the travel time on the route,cutting it down to 10 hours,would be completed in four years. However,despite the grand announcements the only sign on the ground is a foundation stone standing amidst agricultural land in Maldevpur village of Balia. Let alone work on the project,even land acquisition for it is yet to begin.
The Ganga Expressway is the largest infrastructure project to be conceived under the public-private partnership model in the country; the Yamuna Expressway a mere 165 kilometre compared to this 1,047 km stretch. It was awarded to the Jaypee Ganga Infrastructure Corporation Limited by the UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority on March 23,2008 after getting initial environmental clearance on August 23,2007.
The State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority,which was headed by Mukesh Sharma,a professor of civil engineering at IIT,Kanpur,gave the clearance on the basis of a report submitted by the UP Pollution Control Board,which claimed to have held public hearings at several places.
In February 2008,a month after the projects foundation stone was laid,the UP govt came out with a separate Relief and Rehabilitation policy meant exclusively for the families displaced by this project. On March 8,2008,the Varanasi-based Ganga Mahasabha filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court,saying the project would diminish the Ganga. On May 29,2009,the High Court quashed the environmental clearance,saying that there had been violations of the prescribed procedure. Also,the land offered to the company was not taken into account in the environmental clearance.
The court ordered stoppage of work and directed the government not to proceed with the project until environmental clearance was obtained in accordance with the provisions of the Environment Protection Act,1986.
The Jaypee group was given 12,000 hectare land at Bulandshahar,Kanshiramnagar,Unnao,Rae Bareli,Allahabad,Pratapgarh,Varanasi and Mirzapur which the Jaypee Group had been given on 90-years lease for development of residential colonies,entertainment facilities,hospitals,colleges etc. By comparison,the group had got merely 2,500 hectares along the Yamuna Expressway.
Incidently,several petitions were filed against the Yamuna expressway also,but the High Court had rejected them all. The cases of Ganga Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway are different. There,the farmers were ready to give land but wanted higher compensation. In the case of the Ganga Expressway,there are doubts over the feasibility of the project and the way it would impact the Ganga,its natural flow and pollution level,said Jitendra Singh of the Ganga Mahasabha.
Officials says that even if the environmental clearance comes soon,work is unlikely to begin under the present regime. In normal circumstances,acquiring about 20,000 hectare of land,most of which is fertile,will be a tough task. With Assembly elections due in 2012,this is bound to become a political hot potato. Besides,the cost of the project has gone up from the initial estimate of Rs 35,000 crore to over Rs 60,000 crore.
