This one house is blocking the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway: What is Mandola’s ‘Swabhiman’, the home that refuses to move?

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the highly anticipated Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor. This 213-km, high-speed, access-controlled expressway will cut the journey time from Delhi to Dehradun from over six hours to just about 2.5 hours.

But one house has been making headlines amid the project’s inauguration. A tiny two-storey structure called "Swabhiman" in Loni's Mandola village stands like a roadblock in the path of the main exit ramp heading to Delhi, and has delayed the expressway project.

Where is the Swabhiman House actually located?

Located in Mandola village near Ghaziabad, the two-story Swabhiman house sits in the middle of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway's key exit ramp from Dehradun to Delhi.

According to a Zee News report, it covers about 1,000 sq m, with another 600 sq m disputed around it, blocking NHAI's plans despite them owning the rest of the needed 1,600 sq m. Without moving it, cars can't safely exit, forcing workarounds that could spark safety woes and traffic issues linking to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.

Issue of the house did not begin recently

The trouble started off nearly 28 years ago with the UP Housing Board's Mandola Housing Scheme. In 1998, they acquired 2,614 acres from six villages, offering farmers like Veersen Saroha around Rs 1,100 per sq m to build homes on plots. Most took the deal, but Veersen fought it in Allahabad High Court, winning a halt on his 1,600 sq m plot. Years later, the land passed to NHAI for the expressway, but the stay lingered.

Family's demand for fair pay

Veersen's gone now, but his grandson Lakshyaveer Saroha and niece Pooja Nehra carry the torch. They want compensation at 2026 market rates, not dusty 1998 values. According to Pooja Nehra, as quoted by Zee News reports, "We are requesting the value of the claim to reflect the current market value, not based on the previous market value for the past nearly 20 years." In 2024, Lakshyaveer appealed the Supreme Court, claiming the housing board lacked transfer rights; SC sent it to Allahabad HC's Lucknow bench.

NHAI's Race and Backup Plan

With inauguration today, NHAI's building a narrow service road behind the site as a temp fix. But it'll mean less capacity, more dust, congestion, and delays inplace opf the the full ramp.

"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 TOI. For now the SC had scheduled a court hearing on the 16th of April.