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The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to build the nearly 600 kilometres long first phase of the Ganga Expressway 10 km away from the riverbanks to avoid repeating the mistake committed by the erstwhile Mayawati government, which had first conceived such a project but whose plan was derailed over environmental concerns.In 2007, the Mayawati government had planned a 1,047-km long Ganga Expressway from Greater Noida to Ballia. But, after a non-governmental organisation challenged the alignment of the project, the Allahabad High Court quashed the environmental clearance for the project in 2009 saying it did not conform to the provisions of the Environment Protection Act .The Adityanath government announced a similar project on January 29.Avanish K Awasthi, the CEO of UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority, informed the board of the authority on February 11 that the earlier project could not be successful and hence this time the expressway was being built at a distance of 10 km from the Ganga river.“This is being done to ensure that people of the relevant districts get maximum benefit from the project and all compliance is ensured with environmental laws ,” said the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which was seen by ET.