The state government is set to change the route/alignment of the proposed eight-lane expressway, by aligning it with the Upper Ganga Canal instead of Hindon river.

The Upper Ganga Canal Expressway, popularly known as Hindon Expressway, will now stretch from Noida to Hardwar through Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee, instead of Noida to Hardwar via Saharanpur.

According to the government, the change was necessary in order to avoid problems in acquiring land on the original route. It is, however, not known if it is acceptable to the Uttarakhand government as the project involves the participation of the neighbouring state.

Last year, the state government had made a presentation before the Uttarakhand government and after a joint meeting the Uttrakhand government had accepted to bear the cost of building the Saharanpur-Dehradun stretch.

Now, the state government will again have to approach Uttarakhand with a fresh proposal for the 122-km Dehradun-Muzaffarnagar stretch.

The new route is much shorter than the original one. The length of the Upper Ganga Canal Expressway will be around 137 km within Uttar Pradesh, starting from NCR region to Muzaffarnagar. The length of the old route was 217 km.

According to officials, the expressway along the Upper Ganga Canal might become the first to be completed in UP as the land for the entire stretch on the new route is available with the Irrigation department.

“This new route seems to be the most viable. We have already given the job of conducting the feasibility study to a Mumbai-based firm called Infrastructure

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