The Mayawati government on Tuesday defended the Rs.40,000-crore Ballia to Noida Ganga expressway project despite doubts expressed by the Opposition members, who alleged that the scheme was a cover up for a land scam. Dismissing the allegations made by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party as baseless, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma said in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly that the 1,047-km-long Ganga expressway would provide fillip to the development of Uttar Pradesh.