GHAZIABAD: Farmers have forcibly halted the construction of Delhi-Meerut Expressway in Ghaziabad alleging gross discrepancies in distribution of compensation to individuals whose land had been acquired for the project.The district administration, meanwhile, commenced a survey to identify discrepancies, if any, in compensation disbursal so that it can be re-distributed to the real land owners. The stalemate has been reported from Bhojpur area along the 32-km-long greenfield six-lane road, being constructed to link Dasna with Partapur in Meerut , which forms Section 4 of the ambitious expressway project.The protest has been led by workers of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) who have started a dharna at the site.“The administration has already disbursed compensation to those whose lands lie immediately adjacent to the expressway. However, owners of the land on which the expressway is being constructed are yet to be compensated. The administration has promised to sort out the matter in the next couple of days. But we will remain in protest till the real land owners have received their share of compensation,” unit president of BKU in Bhojpur, Vinay Nehra, told TOI.According to NHAI, nearly 25% work on the project is complete. The land has been acquired from farmers of 14-15 villages in Ghaziabad and Meerut.“Nearly 365 hectares land has been acquired for the project. The total construction cost of the project is Rs 1,087 crore. Apart from Ghaziabad, nearly 4.5 km length of the road falls in Meerut district . The dispute is over differences in compensation disbursed to co-tenants of particular plots. In many cases, co-tenants themselves have not applied for compensation,” project director, Kishor Katyal, told TOI.The officials said law and order is under control in the area and a survey has been undertaken to identify the alleged discrepancies.“The dispute is over two to three plots of land. The total area of these plots is nearly nine hectares. However, the parcel of land that is disputed is nearly 6,000 sqm only. We have undertaken a survey and discrepancies in compensation disbursal, if any, will be worked out through redistribution,” sub-divisional magistrate, Modianagar, Pawan Agarwal, said.

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