Amidst wheat fields just outside Ballia town, policemen guard the foundation of the Ganga Expressway — the 1,047-km, eight-lane interstate road which, when completed, will link the town with Delhi. The administration fears angry people, who suspected the project is a pretext to take over their land, will remove the plaque.

The expressway was Chief Minister Mayawati’s dream project which, it was said, would open up eastern UP, the state’s most backward area, for development by providing a fast a link to the national capital. Mayawati never came here — she unveiled the plaque at her Lucknow residence on January 15, 2008, her 52nd birthday, and later it was brought and installed in Maldevpur village.

More than a year later, there is no sign of the project taking off. Since it is election time, the fears and apprehensions of landowners have provided a ready issue to Mayawati’s rivals. “It will take away the livelihood of farmers without actually giving them anything,” alleges BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sinha.

BSP’s Sangram Singh Yadav tries to convince farmers that the expressway will actually change the landscape of eastern UP, by bringing in investments and prosperity, but finds few takers. “Foundation stones do not provide us work, these fields do. Didi (Mayawati) should understand this. She has deployed policemen to guard her stone. But they never come when we need them,” says Dalit farmer Sita Ram, whose house is closest to the foundation.

“Expressway or not, we need electricity, we need roads to go to nearby towns and villages. This place gets flooded in the rainy season,” says another farmer Radha Mohan, adding, “We are not against development as officers seem to believe. But we are not big businessmen who would go to Delhi each day to sell vegetables or grains.”

... contd.