Akhilesh Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had planned Lucknow-Agra Expressway before leaving the office. This project has now come under the scanner of the present UP CM Adityanath Yogi. It was opened to the use of public around four months ago and is now under scrutiny for alleged scam.
The report of scam says that the farm land was passed off as the residential land so that the dealers can gain higher compensation. A letter sent to the 10 district magistrates on April 19 directed them to recheck all the lands that were used on the expressway. This includes almost 3,500 hectares of land that was purchased from 20,456 farmers in 232 villages across 10 districts. The government also hired RITES, a public sector company to conduct a technical survey of the expressway.
Awanish Awasthi, the new chief executive officer of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) had said that “The government will not stop any project. The only aim is to ensure genuine farmers are not affected. At the same time, the government will take strict action if any anomaly arises.” The CEO also said that this probe will take a month’s time and will be finished before the end of May.
The issue was brought to light after Y.N. Lal, a special field officer of UPEIDA filed a case against 22 land owners and five chakbandi officers for passing off agricultural land of Bachhela Bachheli village as residential land. The Samajwadi Party, after finishing the project, boasted of finishing it in record time at a cost of Rs. 15,000 crores. The expressway also has an airstrip of 3 km long in Unnao that enables landing of fighter planes.
