Delhi-Dehradun Expressway Update: Project nearly complete, but THIS thing in Ghaziabad delays opening; check details

The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway is a much-awaited project. Once opened, it will reduce travel time between Delhi and Dehradun significantly from six hours to 2.5 hours. The 210 km expressway is nearly complete on both sides, but a modest, two-storey structure in Ghaziabad's Mandola village is holding up the grand opening. Reports suggest the house belonged to Veersen Saroha's family, who have lived on the 1,600-square-metre plot since the 1990s. They refused to sell the plot to the Uttar Pradesh Housing Board in 1998, a TOI report stated. The dispute began in the same year when Veersen challenged the UP Housing Board's acquisition of his land for the Mandola Housing Scheme in the Allahabad High Court. The project eventually stalled. 

Later, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) acquired the land from the housing board for the expressway. However, Saroha's family continues to challenge the transfer. The report further stated that the NHAI is building the expressway in two sections - 14.7 km from Akshardham to Loni on the UP border, and 16 km from Loni to Khekra at the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE). The section between Akshardham in Delhi and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway is crucial for reducing travel time between Delhi and Baghpat to under 30 minutes. However, operations on this key project remain on hold because of the legal battle that has reached the Supreme Court. 

NHAI says it can finish the project by June this year, but only if the legal hurdle is cleared. Veersen's grandson, Lakshyaveer, took the fight to the Supreme Court in 2024. The case has now been transferred to the Lucknow bench of the High Court, with the next hearing scheduled for April 16.

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