Ganga Expressway
Encyclopedia
The Ganga Expressway Project was launched by Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister
Mayawati
after coming to power in 2007. The project aims to construct a 1047 km access controlled eight-laned expressway running along the Ganga (Ganges) River. This expressway will connect Greater Noida
to Ballia
thus ensuring high speed connectivity between the Eastern and Western boundaries of Uttar Pradesh
. The proposed expressway from Ballia to Greater Noida is also planned to provide a flood control embankment - floods being a major cause of agricultural and environmental damage, diseases and deaths during India's monsoon season. The expressway will connect major cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh, passing through Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Bulandshahr.
Construction work on Ganga Expressway has not yet started because of an order from the High Court of Uttar Pradesh. The order instructed that the state and the concessionaire complete a full environmental study and obtain permission from the central government before embarking on the construction. The concessionaire has completed the study and submitted its proposal with Ministry of Environment and Forests in New Delhi, in April 2011, to obtain environmental clearances, as required by recently enacted Indian environmental laws.
According to The Indian Red Cross, the Indian sub-continent is highly prone to droughts and floods. Floods are the most regular and devastating, with an average of 18.6 million hectare of land flooded annually, and the Indian Red Cross Society identified over 40 million hectare of the land as flood prone.
According to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, between 1990-2000, about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year, over 4000 people lost their lives every year in India, and the nation suffers heavy losses in economic assets from these disasters every year. In this report, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs claims it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected by natural disasters; additionally, these disasters retard socio-economic development, further impoverishing the impoverished. The routine flood relief, drought relief, and other disaster relief efforts lead to diversion of scarce resources from development to rehabilitation and reconstruction.
The Ganga basin floods are frequent. The river Ganga and some tributaries of Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh, flood more than once every year. Uttar Pradesh has experienced massive flooding in 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2008. At least 2000 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh in 1998 floods alone. The incidence of flood is frequent mainly in the eastern Ganga Plain regions, and 30 districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh are prone to flooding. The exact location of flooding along the river Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh changes every year because of changing water flows, local pollution and rainfall patterns in Ganga's tributaries: Sharada, Rapti, Chhoti Gandak, Ghaghara, Great Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Kosi. ,, The routine flooding inundates, destroys and pollutes on average over 237,000 hectares of farms and wetlands every year in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Ganga Expressway project proposes to dedicate 15,120 hectares of land to build flood-preventing embankment and an expressway on top of this embankment.
model. The state government of Uttar Pradesh accepted bids from various infrastructure companies. The companies which submitted the bids included:
The Uttar Pradesh government awarded the Ganga Expressway contract to Jaypee Infratech Pvt. Ltd. According to the contract, Jaypee will build the Expressway at no cost to public finance, in exchange for (1) the right to maintain, operate and collect tolls on the Expressway for a 35 year period; and (2) right to procure and develop a few land parcels for commercial activity along the 1000+ kilometer Expressway. The construction was anticipated to be started by April 2008.
However, a series of land acquisition issues, legal challenges and judicial motions have prevented construction work on the Ganga Expressway.
According to Uttar Pradesh government's Expressway Industrial Development Authority 2009-2010 update, the land required for the Ganga Expressway project is 26,374 hectares (264 square kilometers)., This land area includes land for the expressway, supporting exits and links, and associated land parcels.
The Ganga Expressway, the state government claims, will be on top of a flood-controlling left bank embankment along river Ganga, with a total length of 1047 kilometers, featuring 4 bridges over river Ganga, 39 additional major bridges, 199 minor bridges, 1248 culverts, 25 interchanges, 23 flyovers, 187 vehicular underpasses, 244 pedestrian passes. About 65% of the required land area for the Ganga Expressway project will be dedicated as embankment to prevent annual floods and the resulting agricultural, environmental and property damage.
Uttar Pradesh
, one of the states in northern region of India, has total area of 294411 square kilometres (113,672.7 sq mi) . The Ganga Expressway, once it is fully complete and in commercial use, will represent less than 0.1% of the state's land area.
To address the land acquisition issues, the government of Uttar Pradesh announced a revised land acquisition policy in June 2011 . This policy is part of what the state government calls as “Karar Niyamavali,” the guiding policy for land acquisition by the government from the citizens of its state . This policy’s section 6 provides certain protections to any farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted. The rules require that any fraudulent transaction be considered for appeal and cancelled. The farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted has a right to compensation and damages from the state government whenever fraud is discovered and reported.
The revised land acquisition policy provides the following compensation to the farmers from whom land is being acquired:
According to The Financial Times, in 2008, the farmland prices in France were Euro 6,000 per hectare ($2,430 per acre; Rs. 1,09,350 per acre).
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as of January 2010, the average farmland value in the United States was $2,140 per acre (Rs. 96,300 per acre). The farmland prices in the United States varied between different parts of the country, ranging between $480 per acre to $4,690 per acre. .
In May 2009, the High Court found that the state had failed to obtain proper clearance from its state-level environment impact assessment authority. The Court restrained the state government from continuing further with Ganga Expressway project. It ordered that the state obtain prior environmental clearance before continuing with the project.
The government of Uttar Pradesh accepted the court order, and stopped work on the flood-control embankment and expressway.
According to the Department of Infrastructure and Industrial Development of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, applications to obtain court-ordered environmental clearances were filed in July and August 2009.
A European Commission study claims catastrophic floods endanger lives and cause human tragedy as well as heavy economic losses. In addition to economic and social damage, the European Commission claims floods can have severe environmental consequences, for example when installations holding large quantities of toxic substances are inundated by floods or when wetland areas are destroyed by the floods.
In a book published by the United Nations University Press on sustainable development of Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basins, several authors present their scientific studies on floods and the environment and social impact of flood control and other infrastructure projects in GBM basins. Shah claims the GBM region supports about 10% of the world population, even though it represents just 0.12% of the world’s total geographical area. The GBM basin, which includes the state of Uttar Pradesh, contains the largest concentration of the poorest in the world. GBM basin is prone to floods, which causes recurring flood damage, affecting these poorest.
According to data presented by Shah, as of 2001, the floods of 1988 and 1996 were amongst the worst in recent times. He presents data over 120 years, from 1871 to 1990, showing India experiences abundant rains, and the rainfall amounts in each decade of the period he studied have been more or less the same, along with resultant floods. Despite recurring floods, Shah claims GBM basin - as of 2001 - completely lacks the known methods of flood control: civil structures such as storage reservoirs for flood waters. Without such reliable civil structures for flood control, Shah claims GBM basin population will need to “live with floods,” by reducing the loss of human lives and misery to the people and livestock.
In the same book, Verghese claims that if there is a cost of doing something, the cost of not doing is all too often overlooked. Verghese suggests the cost of not doing something can be far greater.
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
Mayawati
Mayawati
Mayawati is the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, India. She heads the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents the Bahujans or Dalits, the weakest strata of Indian society. This is her fourth term as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh...
after coming to power in 2007. The project aims to construct a 1047 km access controlled eight-laned expressway running along the Ganga (Ganges) River. This expressway will connect Greater Noida
Greater Noida
Greater Noida is located in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh . It is under the purview of the National Capital Region of India...
to Ballia
Ballia
Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of the Ganges and the Ghaghara...
thus ensuring high speed connectivity between the Eastern and Western boundaries of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. The proposed expressway from Ballia to Greater Noida is also planned to provide a flood control embankment - floods being a major cause of agricultural and environmental damage, diseases and deaths during India's monsoon season. The expressway will connect major cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh, passing through Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Bulandshahr.
Construction work on Ganga Expressway has not yet started because of an order from the High Court of Uttar Pradesh. The order instructed that the state and the concessionaire complete a full environmental study and obtain permission from the central government before embarking on the construction. The concessionaire has completed the study and submitted its proposal with Ministry of Environment and Forests in New Delhi, in April 2011, to obtain environmental clearances, as required by recently enacted Indian environmental laws.
Divisions
The expressway has been divided into four sectors:| Route | Links | Length | Cost of Construction | Date of Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Noida Greater Noida Greater Noida is located in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh . It is under the purview of the National Capital Region of India... to Fatehgarh Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the right bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from an old fort. It is a small city with no significant... via Bulandshahr |
Farrukhabad Farrukhabad Farrukhābād , is one of the important cities of Central Doab Region in the State of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The city was founded in 1717 by Mohammed Bangash who named it after the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. Farrukhabad is situated on the bank of sacred river Ganges.-Demographics: India... |
253 km | Rs. 7,631 crore Crore A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.... |
TBA |
| Fatehgarh Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the right bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from an old fort. It is a small city with no significant... to Dalmau Dalmau Dalmau is a town and a nagar panchayat in Rae Bareli district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.-Geography:Dalmau is located at . It has an average elevation of 115 metres .-Cultural significance:... (Raibareli) |
Unnao Unnao The town of Unnao is the headquarters of Unnao District in Uttar Pradesh, India between Kanpur and Lucknow. It is approximately 18 km from Kanpur & 60 km from Lucknow . It is connected to these two cities by roadway as well as by railway. The nearest airport is at Amausi about... |
305 km | Rs. 8,012 crore Crore A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.... |
TBA |
| Dalmau Dalmau Dalmau is a town and a nagar panchayat in Rae Bareli district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.-Geography:Dalmau is located at . It has an average elevation of 115 metres .-Cultural significance:... (Raibareli) to Aurai Aurai In Greek mythology, the Aurai are the winged nymphs of the breezes, daughters of Boreas, the god of the north wind, Eurus, the god of the east wind, Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, or Notus, the god of the south wind.... (Bhadohi Bhadohi Bhadohi is a city ,Lok Sabha constituency and a municipal board in Sant Ravidas Nagar district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Also known as the "Carpet City", as it is home to the largest hand-knotted carpet weaving industry hubs in South Asia... ) |
Mirzapur Mirzapur Mirzapur is a city in the heart of North India, nearly 650 km between Delhi and Kolkata and also equidistant from Allahabad and Varanasi. Located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Mirzapur has a population of a little over 205,264 and is renowned for its famous carpet and brassware industry... |
211 km | Rs. 6,124 crore Crore A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.... |
TBA |
| Aurai Aurai In Greek mythology, the Aurai are the winged nymphs of the breezes, daughters of Boreas, the god of the north wind, Eurus, the god of the east wind, Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, or Notus, the god of the south wind.... (Bhadohi Bhadohi Bhadohi is a city ,Lok Sabha constituency and a municipal board in Sant Ravidas Nagar district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Also known as the "Carpet City", as it is home to the largest hand-knotted carpet weaving industry hubs in South Asia... ) to Balia Balia Balia may refer to:Bangladesh*Balia, Bangladesh Places*Ballia, in Uttar Pradesh, India*Balia, MaliElectoral constituencies*Ballia , in Uttar Pradesh, India... |
Varanasi Varanasi -Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south... /Ghazipur Ghazipur Ghazipur , or Ghazipur City, previously spelt Ghazeepore, is a city/town and a municipal corporation and headquarter of Ghazipur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghazipur Division and Sub-division... |
278 km | Rs. 8,058 crore Crore A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.... |
TBA |
Motivation for Ganga Expressway
The infrastructure development department of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, in its 2007 proposal request for Ganga Expressway, explained the motivation for Ganga Expressway. The government claimed every year many parts of the state of Uttar Pradesh face flooding of Ganga on its left bank, resulting in loss of life, usable land and property. To mitigate this problem the state government's irrigation department proposed the construction of a bund (embankment) along the left bank of river Ganga from Narora to UP/Bihar Border (Ghazipur). The state government decided to utilize this necessary embankment, and build an access controlled 8-lane expressway on top of the embankment. The government claims the following benefits as its motivation in the proposal:,- Provide flood protection to large population and number of villages along river
- Decongest the increasing traffic on the existing network of roads
- Fast and safe connectivity resulting in savings in fuel, travel time and transportation cost to society
- Reduction in accidents
- Reduction in pollution
- Employment opportunity to people
- Development of local industry, agriculture and handicrafts
- Development of tourism and pilgrimage
- Transporting, processing and marketing of agricultural products
- Better approach to medical and educational services
- Quick transportation of perishable goods like fruits, vegetables and dairy products
According to The Indian Red Cross, the Indian sub-continent is highly prone to droughts and floods. Floods are the most regular and devastating, with an average of 18.6 million hectare of land flooded annually, and the Indian Red Cross Society identified over 40 million hectare of the land as flood prone.
According to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, between 1990-2000, about 30 million people were affected by disasters every year, over 4000 people lost their lives every year in India, and the nation suffers heavy losses in economic assets from these disasters every year. In this report, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs claims it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected by natural disasters; additionally, these disasters retard socio-economic development, further impoverishing the impoverished. The routine flood relief, drought relief, and other disaster relief efforts lead to diversion of scarce resources from development to rehabilitation and reconstruction.
The Ganga basin floods are frequent. The river Ganga and some tributaries of Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh, flood more than once every year. Uttar Pradesh has experienced massive flooding in 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2008. At least 2000 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh in 1998 floods alone. The incidence of flood is frequent mainly in the eastern Ganga Plain regions, and 30 districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh are prone to flooding. The exact location of flooding along the river Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh changes every year because of changing water flows, local pollution and rainfall patterns in Ganga's tributaries: Sharada, Rapti, Chhoti Gandak, Ghaghara, Great Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Kosi. ,, The routine flooding inundates, destroys and pollutes on average over 237,000 hectares of farms and wetlands every year in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Ganga Expressway project proposes to dedicate 15,120 hectares of land to build flood-preventing embankment and an expressway on top of this embankment.
Construction and Problems
The construction of the expressway is going to be done under a Public-private partnershipPublic-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
model. The state government of Uttar Pradesh accepted bids from various infrastructure companies. The companies which submitted the bids included:
- DLF Universal
- GMR groupGMR GroupGMR Group is a major infrastructure company in India which is headquartered in Bangalore. The company was founded in 1978 by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao The core business areas of the company include airports, energy and highways; apart from having presence in the agriculture and aviation sectors...
- Jaypee group
- Larsen & ToubroLarsen & ToubroLarsen & Toubro Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has four main business sectors: technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices and factories, further...
- Omaxe-GVK-Nagarjuna
- Reliance EnergyReliance EnergyReliance Infrastructure, formerly known as Reliance Energy and prior to that as Bombay Suburban Electric Supply , Its India's largest private sector enterprise in power utility and its a company under the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group banner, one of India's largest conglomerates. The...
- Unitech GroupUnitech GroupThe Unitech Group is India's second largest real estate investment company, and has recently claimed to be the largest real estate builder in the country.....
The Uttar Pradesh government awarded the Ganga Expressway contract to Jaypee Infratech Pvt. Ltd. According to the contract, Jaypee will build the Expressway at no cost to public finance, in exchange for (1) the right to maintain, operate and collect tolls on the Expressway for a 35 year period; and (2) right to procure and develop a few land parcels for commercial activity along the 1000+ kilometer Expressway. The construction was anticipated to be started by April 2008.
However, a series of land acquisition issues, legal challenges and judicial motions have prevented construction work on the Ganga Expressway.
According to Uttar Pradesh government's Expressway Industrial Development Authority 2009-2010 update, the land required for the Ganga Expressway project is 26,374 hectares (264 square kilometers)., This land area includes land for the expressway, supporting exits and links, and associated land parcels.
The Ganga Expressway, the state government claims, will be on top of a flood-controlling left bank embankment along river Ganga, with a total length of 1047 kilometers, featuring 4 bridges over river Ganga, 39 additional major bridges, 199 minor bridges, 1248 culverts, 25 interchanges, 23 flyovers, 187 vehicular underpasses, 244 pedestrian passes. About 65% of the required land area for the Ganga Expressway project will be dedicated as embankment to prevent annual floods and the resulting agricultural, environmental and property damage.
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, one of the states in northern region of India, has total area of 294411 square kilometres (113,672.7 sq mi) . The Ganga Expressway, once it is fully complete and in commercial use, will represent less than 0.1% of the state's land area.
To address the land acquisition issues, the government of Uttar Pradesh announced a revised land acquisition policy in June 2011 . This policy is part of what the state government calls as “Karar Niyamavali,” the guiding policy for land acquisition by the government from the citizens of its state . This policy’s section 6 provides certain protections to any farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted. The rules require that any fraudulent transaction be considered for appeal and cancelled. The farmer whose land has been fraudulently transacted has a right to compensation and damages from the state government whenever fraud is discovered and reported.
The revised land acquisition policy provides the following compensation to the farmers from whom land is being acquired:
- An annuity for 33 years of Rs. 23,000 per acre ($510 per acre every year), plus an increase every year of Rs. 800 per acre; or,
- A lumpsum upfront payment of Rs. 2,76,000 per acre ($6,100 per acre)
According to The Financial Times, in 2008, the farmland prices in France were Euro 6,000 per hectare ($2,430 per acre; Rs. 1,09,350 per acre).
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as of January 2010, the average farmland value in the United States was $2,140 per acre (Rs. 96,300 per acre). The farmland prices in the United States varied between different parts of the country, ranging between $480 per acre to $4,690 per acre. .
Environment impact and controversy
The environment impact and controversy with Ganga expressway is multi-faceted.Environmental controversy with expressway
After the expressway project was launched, a petition was filed jointly by Varanasi-based Ganga Mahasabha, and Mirzapur-based Vindhya Environmental Society in Allahabad-based High Court of the state of Uttar Pradesh. The petitioners alleged the proposed Ganga Expressway would expose large parts of the state to environmental hazards.In May 2009, the High Court found that the state had failed to obtain proper clearance from its state-level environment impact assessment authority. The Court restrained the state government from continuing further with Ganga Expressway project. It ordered that the state obtain prior environmental clearance before continuing with the project.
The government of Uttar Pradesh accepted the court order, and stopped work on the flood-control embankment and expressway.
According to the Department of Infrastructure and Industrial Development of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, applications to obtain court-ordered environmental clearances were filed in July and August 2009.
Environmental controversy without expressway
Ganga expressway is envisioned to be built on top of a bund which the government claims will also help control floods. Floods are an environmental risk, according to the United Nations. Floods can change river morphology, cause soil contamination, discharge effluents and release contaminants from storage.A European Commission study claims catastrophic floods endanger lives and cause human tragedy as well as heavy economic losses. In addition to economic and social damage, the European Commission claims floods can have severe environmental consequences, for example when installations holding large quantities of toxic substances are inundated by floods or when wetland areas are destroyed by the floods.
In a book published by the United Nations University Press on sustainable development of Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basins, several authors present their scientific studies on floods and the environment and social impact of flood control and other infrastructure projects in GBM basins. Shah claims the GBM region supports about 10% of the world population, even though it represents just 0.12% of the world’s total geographical area. The GBM basin, which includes the state of Uttar Pradesh, contains the largest concentration of the poorest in the world. GBM basin is prone to floods, which causes recurring flood damage, affecting these poorest.
According to data presented by Shah, as of 2001, the floods of 1988 and 1996 were amongst the worst in recent times. He presents data over 120 years, from 1871 to 1990, showing India experiences abundant rains, and the rainfall amounts in each decade of the period he studied have been more or less the same, along with resultant floods. Despite recurring floods, Shah claims GBM basin - as of 2001 - completely lacks the known methods of flood control: civil structures such as storage reservoirs for flood waters. Without such reliable civil structures for flood control, Shah claims GBM basin population will need to “live with floods,” by reducing the loss of human lives and misery to the people and livestock.
In the same book, Verghese claims that if there is a cost of doing something, the cost of not doing is all too often overlooked. Verghese suggests the cost of not doing something can be far greater.
See also
- 2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar PradeshThe government of Uttar Pradesh, India, has faced protests against its proposed enforced land acquisition in 2011. These protests have been centred on the village of Bhatta Parsaul, Greater Noida and have resulted in sporadic incidents of violence since January of that year...
- Expressways in IndiaExpressway (India)An expressway is a controlled-access highway; it is a highway that controls entrances to it and exits from it by incorporating the design of the slip roads for entry and exit into the design of the highway itself. Access-control should not be confused with collection of toll. An expressway may be...
- Yamuna ExpresswayYamuna ExpresswayYamuna Expressway , formerly known as Taj Expressway project was conceived with the idea of reducing the travel time between Noida and Agra...
- KMP Expressway