Lucknow, Sept. 5: Mayavati today announced a plan to build the modern-day version of the Grand Trunk Road along the Ganga, triggering protests from environment groups and political rivals.

The 1,000km highway project, if it survives the environment uproar, promises to change the face of impoverished eastern Uttar Pradesh and reduce travel time between Varanasi and Noida (near Delhi) by 15 hours to just eight.

The journey now takes around 23 hours. The reduced time means that those zipping along the highway will be clocking an average speed of 87kmph.

Toll will be the main sour-ce of earnings for the Rs 40,000-crore project, which will be built by private investors.

The developer will be free to allot land along the highway to industrial enclaves, housing colonies and market complexes. This will be the other source of income. The government will help in acquiring the land.

“The eight-lane expressway will have seven link roads between Ballia and Noida. Along the road, there will be a variety of amenities, such as cyber cafés, food joints and industrial parks,” Mayavati said. Ballia is around 1,000km from Delhi and 300km to the east of Varanasi.

The model is similar to plans elsewhere in the country, including Bengal, where developers have planned industrial parks along highways they will help build.

Critics of the Uttar Pradesh expressway say the route will interfere with the course of the river, take away fertile land and displace thousands. But the government believes it will be a boon. “This is one road project that will rival the Grand Trunk Road,” a secretary in the chief minister’s office said.

The Grand Trunk Road, or GT Road as it is often called, was built by Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. The 2,500km highway connects Calcutta to the Wagah border in Punjab.

Shashank Shekhar Singh, the state’s cabinet secretary, said a report on the project’s feasibility was being drawn up and the Centre’s environment clearance, mandatory for such plans, has already been received.

The project, the chief minister hopes, will help revitalise the state’s east, especially the weavers and craftsmen of Bhadohi, Kannauj and Varanasi. They will be able to reach their products in the faraway markets of Delhi within a short time. The highway could also revive tourist interest in places of historical interest, like Mirzapur and Bithur, by making them more easily accessible.

Some political observers say the grand highway plan could also help Mayavati consolidate her political position in a region that has not exactly been a BSP bastion.

But the roadblocks need to be tackled first. Raman Tyagi, senior member of Janhit Foundation, which works to protect rivers, said the project was a recipe for disaster.

“A river’s bed is vast and even a road 5km away might interfere with its natural course. Also if the river is forced to flow on one side, it will flood the other side. The investment might be wasted.”

Veer Bhadra Mishra, a former Benaras Hindu University professor who has campaigned against pollution in the Ganga, said he was against any project that might have a long-term impact on the river. But cabinet secretary Singh dismissed such misgivings, saying the road would be built 3 to 5km away from the river.

Mayavati will have to grapple with the political hurdles, too. Former state BJP chief Keshrinath Tripathi said the highway will lead to large-scale displacement of people on the left bank of the Ganga. However, a state government spokesman denied the claim, saying that flank of the river was not a residential zone.

State Congress chief Salman Khursheed said his party was examining the project but would oppose any industrial enclave on the left bank since the land was fertile. “Sonia Gandhi has already said that the UPA would not encourage any SEZ on the fertile agriculture land.”

Roads have long been Mayavati’s Achilles’ Heel. One of them, the Taj Corridor project, even cost her the chief minister’s job in 2002 after a CBI probe into allegations that environment norms were violated and bribes had been paid to bag contracts. A part of the plan was the eight-lane Taj Expressway, between Agra and Delhi.

However, Mayavati came out unscathed. A panel appointed by Mayavati’s predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav in May 2003 to look into the charges gave her a clean chit and recommended that the Taj project be implemented right away.