Just four builders have shown interest in the project till date and officials now fear agitation by the farmers, who have said they will “lock up” the authority office and stall work on the expressway from April 1, if their demands are not met.

In a panchayat held at the Ameerchand Inter College in Kasna, farmers have decided to give an application mentioning their demands to the chairman of the Taj Expressway Authority, Lalit Srivastava, on Tuesday. They will also be issuing an “ultimatum” to the authority, one of their leaders said.

Former MLA Nawab Singh Nagar, who is leading the farmers, said: “Land along the Taj Expressway will be sold for the price of gold, whereas the farmers are being given only a fraction of that amount.”

The Taj Expressway Authority has, meanwhile, received only four applications for the mega-city to be developed on land along the expressway. Although the last date has not been announced, sources say the authority will decide on the last date for applications only after a minimum of 12 requests for forms are made. Each form has been priced at Rs 1 lakh and applicants are required to pay a registration amount of Rs 1 crore.

The forms sold, officials say, have all been bought by national builders and no international firm, as was expected, has shown interest till now.

In the first phase of the 22 SDZs, three 1,000 hectare allocations are to be made to the highest bidder. Three winners will have the right to build, develop and sell sub-projects on that land.

Farmers say they have been on a hunger strike and have been protesting for many months now and their demands will have to be met before other projects are kicked-off. “Or else we will make sure no project is started,” Nagar said.

The farmers have been demanding a compensation rate of Rs 20 lakh per beegha and even after the Greater Noida and Taj Expressway authorities increased compensation rates from Rs 3.39 lakh to Rs 8 lakh recently, they say it is not enough.

Along with the increase in compensation rates, they have also demanded that the rates be implemented for all land acquired since 2005. The farmers have said that all demands be fulfilled unconditionally.