The Rs 12,000-crore highway expansion project was first ideated in 2016 to widen 889 km of hill roads to provide all-weather connectivity in the Char Dham circuit, covering Uttarakhand’s four major shrines — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri
Representational image. PTI
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed double lane widening of roads for the Char Dham project in view of security concerns. The strategic 900-km-long Char Dham project worth Rs 12,000 crore aims to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — in Uttarakhand.
The court was hearing the Centre’s plea seeking modification of the 8 September 2020 order, which had asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to follow the 2018 circular stipulating carriageway width of 5.5 metres on the ambitious Char Dham highway project, which goes up to the border with China.
The court on Tuesday modified the order dated 8 September 2020 and allowed the Defence Ministry to widen the road as sought.
A bench, comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath, also appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri as the head of the oversight committee.
According to NDTV, the apex court agreed with the government’s arguments that wider roads in the area were of strategic importance.
“Border security concerns need to be met and movement of troops and equipment is needed, given serious challenges to national security in the recent past, the top court was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Delivering its verdict in the case, Justice DY Chandrachud said that the court in ‘exercise of judicial review cannot second guess the requirements of the army’ and added that Armed Forces cannot be held up for statement made to media as a statement written in stone. He said that the apex court cannot question the policy choice of the government in this case. “Highways which are strategic roads for armed forces cannot be compared to other such hilly or mountainous roads,” said Justice Chandrachud.
What is the project all about?
The Rs 12,000-crore highway expansion project was first ideated in 2016 to widen 889 km of hill roads to provide all-weather connectivity in the Char Dham circuit, covering Uttarakhand’s four major shrines — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
In December 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the project. Speaking then, he had said, “This Char Dham project is a tribute to those who lost their lives during the Uttarakhand flash floods.”
“Earlier, pilgrims had to worry about getting stranded due to landslides and they would be anxious about the uncertainties. But, with this project, all the uncertainties will be gone and the pilgrims’ mind will be free from all worries,” he said.
What’s the controversy about?
The road expansion project was challenged by an NGO, Citizens for Green Doon, in 2018 for its potential impact on Himalayan ecology due to felling trees, cutting hills and dumping muck (excavated material).
Hearing the case then, the Supreme Court formed a high-powered committee (HPC) under environmentalist Ravi Chopra to examine the issues.
In July 2020, the HPC submitted two reports after the members disagreed on the ideal width for hill roads. The majority report by 21 HPC members, 14 members, favoured a width of 12 metres as envisaged in the project.
However, on 8 September 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the recommendation of the four HPC members, including Ravi Chopra, the head, to limit the carriageway width to 5.5 metres, along with 1.5 metres raised footpath, based on a March 2018 guideline issued by the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for mountain highways.
The defence angle
Even as the project became an ideal argument of ‘development vs environment’, the Ministry of Defence saw benefits of the project and it moved an appeal in the Supreme Court in November 2020 seeking a ‘double lane road having a carriageway width 7 m (or 7.5 m in case there is a raised kerb)” with 8-10 m formation width to “meet the requirement of the Army”.
The army believed that an extended road would help in facilitating troop movement. In fact, in its appeal in November, the Central government had submitted that wider roads are needed to make it possible to transport missiles like the BrahMos and other critical military equipment. It assured that, if this leads to landslides, the Army will tackle it.
With inputs from agencies
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