By: Ravi Sinha
Even though storm is not over Noida Extension land acquisition, another scam in UP Expressway has surfaced that could be India’s biggest land controversy. It seems to be a case study in how the Uttar Pradesh Government has turned rich agricultural land next to waterways into Expressways in violation of all norms.
Over 30,000 hectares of rich fertile agricultural land is being handed over to private real estate developers. Eight major expressways in the state are all running along rivers or water channels under a public private partnership.
The two major expressways Yamuna and Ganga alone acquired 30,000 hectares of land. Upto 50 percent of acquired land near expressways is to be developed and sold by private developers. In fact, 2,400 acres of land along the Yamuna Expressway was given to developers to compensate for the construction cost of the express way.
In August, 2011 two farmers were killed in police firing protesting land acquisition along Yamuna Expressway. One of the most fertile land, where Kharif crop was the lifeline, farmers’ water tube-well has been razed to the ground, power disconnected and land acquired to raise a township along the Yamuna Expressway connecting Delhi with Agra.
That helplessness drove farmers to violence and to courts. In Noida Extension over 6000 farmers got help from courts but farmers in this belt are not as lucky. After all, the Expressways are a win-win for the developers and the politicians in power in Uttar Pradesh.
All major Expressways are been planned to run along either major rivers or water channels under Public Private Partnership model. The two big ones, Yamuna and Ganga Expressway alone will gobble up 30,000 acres of land. Almost 40 to 50 per cent of this land is given to the private developer at Government rates for developing.
The other six highways, interestingly, are also along water channels. Moradabad-Fayehgarh Highway runs along river Ramganga. Jhansi-Kushinagar is on the bank of river Betwa and Gaghra. Agra-Kanpur Expressway along Yamuna from Narora in Aligarh to Uttarkhnad is along the Ganga. And from Bulandshahar to Uttarakhank Expressway runs along the Upper Ganga Canal.
All these expressways and townships are proposed on rich irrigated land producing three crops every year. Acquired land along the Yamuna Expressway when developed by the promoter fetches a price that is many times the compensation that has been paid to the farmer. This disparity is the basis of most of the land related unrest, especially in Uttar Pradesh when the land acquired is rich agricultural land along the Ganga-Yamuna basin.
