The Supreme Court notice, a week ago to the UP government to explain how construction work was allowed on the project without it having been cleared by the apex court, added fuel to the simmering fire.  In the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone, spread over 10,040 sq. kms, not a brick can be laid without clearance from the Supreme Court.

The apex court had been misled on several counts including the number of trees felled to make way for the Expressway. Environmentalists in the Taj city had warned the state government long back of serious ecological damage that could imbalance the rainfall pattern in this fertile belt which is famous for potato cultivation.

Farmers in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra have been agitating for the past several months for higher compensation rates for their land. In fact a large number of them had refused to part with their agricultural holding, but the state government used the SDMs, the tehsildars and other officials to pressure the farmers to vacate their land and accept whatever was offered. This led to several maha panchayats where peasant leaders openly charged the administration of playing into the hands of the corporate group.

The 165 km long Expressway is scheduled for completion early next year. As a later addition another 20 km long Ring road has been added to facilitate traffic movement around Agra. The Expressway will now terminate at Gwalior Road.

Even as violence spreads on the left bank of river Yamuna, events today on the right bank are equally perturbing. The decision to six-lane the existing Delhi Agra road has angered thousands of property owners and shop keepers whose buildings are threatened with bull dozing once work begins.

On Saturday, several groups of protesters resorted to Gandhigiri, distributing rose flowers to vehicle owners requesting them to send a post card to the president to protest against the Reliance project to widen the road.

Ravi Singh, a green activist told Agratoday.in: "the whole belt will not only see great ecological imbalances, but also decline in agricultural yield. For the moment the urgent need to pacify the farmers can’t be over stated, as this can snowball into a powerful movement."