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The Ganga Expressway Project was launched by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati after coming to power in 2007. The project aims to construct a 1047km access controlled eight-laned expressway running along the Ganga river. This expressway will connect Greater Noida to Ballia thus ensuring high speed connectivity between the Eastern and Western boundaries of Uttar Pradesh.

This expressway shall begin from Greater Noida and will go through Bulandshahr, Badayun, Shahjahanpur, Unnao, Pratapgarh, Allahabad and Varanasi to Ghazipur.

The political heat is already going up in the proposed Ganga Expressway, because chances are companies will land up with large tracts of real estate.

This could be the reason why BJP is launching a state wide agitation against the project called 'Ram aur Ganga Bachao Andolan.'

The proposed 'access control' eight-lane highway could lead to a political controversy as some believe the Ganga Expressway is toying with the fate of millions of farmers. In a political hotspot like Uttar Pradesh, taking on farmers could end up jeopardising the project.

One of the reasons for this is that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati wants to give a part of the fertile land on Ganga’s northern bank to corporate which will win the bid.

Nearly 63,110 hectares have been earmarked for the bidders with as much as 70 per cent of this is agricultural land. The UP government has asked for final bids by January 11 and the bidder who asks for least amount of land will be awarded the contract.

Project guideline

Experts and bidders have expressed concern on the tight timelines to submit a bid but sources close to the development tell NDTV that the expressway team is working round the clock to announce this project in time on January 14.

The hurry is because of Mayawati's birthday celebrations, which is the very next day on the January 15. But this hurry has not dissuaded big names like JP Group, L&T, GVK, DLF and Unitech from bidding for these projects.

However, it is not as simple as it sounds. The government only owns 5 per cent of the land it has promised, though the authorities insist that wasteland will be given first and the fertile land will cost more.

The UP government is not spending anything on the project and in such a scenario the project can only be viable if large land parcels are given. The political heat is also increasing on Mayawati with BJP launching a state wide agitation and Congress calling it another Nandigram.

Some are now worrying that the new highway could block older arteries. With Lucknow having announced that the road would be built high, to act as a flood barrier, critics warn that environmental issues have not been adequately dealt with along the proposed Expressway. They predict ecological disaster if the road ends up preventing any of the 200-odd tributaries in the area from emptying into the Ganga. But besides water-logging in the north, what of the enhanced floods on the southern bank?

Watch this Video : DLF bidding for Ganga Expressway : Report by NDTV