During the 1990s Veersen Saroha resided with his family in an easy house situated on a 1600 square meter plot in Mandola but the area’s state of land was different at that time. It was a rural area, where houses and fields were spread out. During 1998 the UP Housing Board announced its plan to obtain 2614 acres of territory spanning six villages situated close to the Delhi-Ghaziabad border for establishing the Mandola Housing Scheme. The families gradually accepted the offer to surrender their land properties.
Although numerous landowners had surrendered their real estate to the authority Veersen maintained his refusal to cede control of his territory. He shifted his legal presence to the higher judicial level of Allahabad High Court. The High Court used an injunction to stop the acquisition process of his land property. The uncompromising attitude of the family initiated years of legal proceedings. The current legal battle for the case is being fought by Veersen’s grandchild.
The prolonged protests along with delays in the scheme development processes led everyone to realize that the planned residential housing development would not be built. NHAI started seeking land for its Delhi-Dehradun Expressway which made the Housing Board surrender its position. Although most families surrendered to the acquisition process the Veersen family persisted. All through the 1990s this house maintained its original state but the surrounding environment disappeared entirely. The highway connects Akshardham with Uttarakhand hills running along its length.
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Construction Work In Two Sections
The National Highways Authority of India constructs the two expressway sections from Akshardham to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE). The first segment spans 14.7 km across Akshardham to the Loni UP border and the second segment has a distance of 16 km from Loni to Khekra in the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. The sections have reached completion status except for Veersen’s 1,600 sq m house, which comes in its way.
The construction on the entire 212 km expressway stands near completion. The expressway is scheduled to open its gates this June. The opening of the road will significantly depend on Veerasen’s vacant two-storey home. The expressway construction has stopped because the house owner and his family submitted legal objections to the Supreme Court.
At the time of announcing Mandola housing project development the government provided Rs 1,100 per sqm as acquisition payment. This affected around 1,000 farmers and homeowners, as reported by Navbharat Times.
A total of 94% of people accepted the payments that were offered to them years ago. Veerasen belonged to the group of rare individuals who rejected the payment offered by the government.
According to Neeraj Tyagi who led the protest in Mandola for better compensation rates both parties involved in the dispute wished to obtain higher payments, as reported by Nav Bharat Times. In 2007 Veersen filed at the Allahabad High Court. The UP Housing Board was compelled to define Veersen’s land through a 2010 ruling yet he already passed away before his case could find a solution according to Neeraj Tyagi.
During the years from 2017 until 2020 the NHAI successfully implemented their expressway construction plan. A source in the Housing Board explained that NHAI required land near Mandola to construct a ramp. During 2020 the Housing Board released a part of their land monopoly together with the house to the National Highways Authority of India. In 2024, Veersen Saroha’s grandson Lakshyaveer moved the Supreme Court, arguing that the land should not be given to the Housing Board.
According to a person involved with the case who requested to stay anonymous, the Supreme Court transferred the petition to the Lucknow Bench of the High Court. April 16 serves as the appointed date for the Lucknow Bench to conduct the hearing.
The Supreme Court has issued urgent guidance for resolving this matter because the expressway project holds significant value to the general public. The start of the expressway operation relies on these proceedings.
Travel between Akshardham and EPE will shorten the entire journey from Delhi to Baghpat to less than 30 minutes. According to the NHAI official approximately 20 kilometers make up the elevated section of the project. People will experience uninterrupted travel from Akshardham to Baghpat through Loni according to this proposed road. The expressway project remains unfinished until engineers successfully solve this particular problem.
