Much-awaited Delhi-Dehradun Expressway nears completion but there's one house which stands in the way!

The construction work of Delhi-Dehradun Expressway - stretching from Akshardham to Uttarakhand - is almost complete. However, it is yet not operational. The reason is a house in Ghaziabad's Mandola which stands in the way. 

Owned by Veersen Saroha's family, the house has been there since the 1990s, spanning over a 1,600 sqm plot.

A look at the timeline of events 

Pertinent to note that the dispute is not fresh. Rather, it began in 1998 when the Uttar Pradesh Housing Board issued a notification, seeking to acquire 2,614 acres of land from six villages in the area near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, under the Mandola Housing scheme. 

Gradually, the families got conviced to cooperate with the UP Housing Board. However, there was one family reluctant to give up its house - none other than the Veersen Sarohas - who later moved to Allahabad High Court against the acquisition of their land. The Allahabad HC stayed the acquistion of their plot. 

It was due to procedural delays and protests that the housing scheme never materialised. The housing borad was, thus, elated to hand over the land acquired from others to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Even after this, the Saroha family refused to side with the authorities. 

Today, the neighbourhood around the house might have changed a lot but the Saroha's house stands exactly as it did in the 90s. 

The status-quo 

The two-storey house, which is now lying vacant, stands in the way of the newly constructed expressway as the owner has filed a case in the top court.  “Work has been held up because of litigation as the owner of the house and his family have filed a case in the Supreme Court," an NHAI official told Times of India. 

According to the NHAI, the expressway might be ready by June. However, the legal case can stretch the operations further. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, handed over the case to Lucknow bench and the next hearing is scheduled to be held