The construction of the 212-kilometre-long Delhi-Dehradun Expressway is in its final stages, with an anticipated opening by June, but one single house has become the main roadblock.
The tale of the obstacle dates back to the 1990s when Mandola, a rural locality near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, was cleared after the Uttar Pradesh Housing Board issued a notification in 1998 to acquire 2,614 acres of land from six villages in the area for its Mandola Housing Scheme.
Back then, one single house built on a 1600-square-metre plot, belonging to Veersen Saroha could not be cleared for the project as Veersen fought back, taking the case to the Allahabad High Court, which placed a stay on the acquisition of his plot.
As years passed, protests and procedural delays halted the housing scheme, leaving Veersen's property untouched. But when the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) began its search for land to build the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, the housing board handed over the entire land that it acquired for the housing scheme.
Almost the entire stretch of the Expressway nears its completion, but Veersen’s house still remains intact in the middle of the expressway, which stretches from Akshardham on one end to the hills of Uttarakhand on the other.
An NHAI official confirmed that the construction work has been delayed due to the ongoing litigation. "Work has been held up because of litigation, as the owner of the house and his family have filed a case in the Supreme Court," the official told TOI.
When the government initially offered an acquisition rate of Rs 1,100 per square metre for the Mandola housing project, around 94 per cent of the families accepted the payout, while Veersen and a few others stood their ground, demanding higher compensation.
Neeraj Tyagi, a local activist who has led protests for fair compensation, said that Veersen had approached the Allahabad High Court in 2007, seeking higher compensation. "As the court proceedings dragged on for years, the UP-Housing Board, in 2010, was forced to delineate his land," Tyagi said.
Veersen's passing before the case could be resolved left the matter unresolved for several years. In 2020, when NHAI needed land near Mandola to build a ramp for the expressway, the housing board transferred the plot, including Veersen's house, to the authorities.
However, Veersen's grandson, Lakshyaveer, filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2024, claiming that the housing board did not have the right to transfer the land. The case has since been directed to the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, with a hearing scheduled for April 16.
The Supreme Court has urged for an expedited resolution, citing the larger public interest and the importance of the expressway’s timely completion, TOI quoted sources as saying.
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