The Mayawati government on Tuesday defended the Rs.40,000-crore Ballia to Noida Ganga expressway project despite doubts expressed by the Opposition members, who alleged that the scheme was a cover up for a land scam. Dismissing the allegations made by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party as baseless, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma said in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly that the 1,047-km-long Ganga expressway would provide fillip to the development of Uttar Pradesh. Raising the issue during zero-hour, the leader of the BJP Legislature party, Om Prakash Singh, demanded that the documents related to the project should be placed before the House. Mr. Singh said the Rs.40,000-crore scheme had been awarded to a company ( J.P Associates ) whose net worth was over Rs.11,000 crore. The BJP member said the same company had been awarded the Taj expressway project by the previous Mayawati regime but no work was done by it in the last five years and it was only recently that some levelling power had been initiated when the Bahujan Samaj Party government was formed in the State. Mr. Singh alleged that acres of land in nine districts situated on the banks of the Ganga had been given to the company and said that land was bought by senior State government officials in Noida and Greater Noida even before the project was given the nod. The BJP member alleged that the alignment of land was being done keeping in mind the project. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal (BJP) expressed the apprehension that the project would only extend from Noida to Kanpur. He suggested that instead of beginning the construction of the expressway from Noida the government should announce that the building of eight-lane highway would start from Ballia. The BJP member said the Government should wait till the completion of the Golden Quadrilateral project before starting work on the Ganga expressway. Ambika Chaudhary (Samajwadi Party) alleged that the government was not interested in the scheme and only wanted to extend benefits to JP Associates. Stating that the Ganga was the lifeline of UP, the SP member said several Most Backward Classes like Mallah, Nishad and Bind who sowed vegetables and fruits on the banks of the river would be robbed of their livelihood once the project was completed.