Four years after being shot down by SC panel, Govt presses ahead with Chardham’s Netala bypass

“This bypass is recommended to be dropped because the geological infirmities on the existing alignment can be rectified and the local villagers, district administration and the MLA are not in favour,” the committee had said in its recommendation to the Supreme Court.

The geological infirmities the committee referred to in its report were landslide zones on the existing NH-34, which it said could be treated.

The bypass road will involve diversion of 17.5 hectares of forest land and axing of 2,751 trees and acquisition of 5.4 hectares from Siror village.

The 900-km Chardham project is underway to widen and improve highways connecting four pilgrimage centres — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — and the Supreme Court granted it conditional clearance in 2021.

The project also falls in the fragile Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), a 4,157 sq km expanse between Gangotri and Uttarkashi town. The BESZ was notified in 2012 to protect River Ganga’s ecology and watershed near its origin.

The developments have prompted objections on two fronts.

Independent members of the BESZ monitoring committee, mandated to implement the BESZ master plan, have submitted objections against the bypass road to the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, who heads the panel.

Secondly, people residing in villages along NH-34 have also raised social and environmental concerns regarding the project to retired Justice A K Sikri, who heads an oversight committee formed by the Supreme Court. This committee is tasked with implementation of court-ordered environmental safeguards for the Chardham project.

“The BRO has started marking Deodar trees for deforestation for Netala bypass without the required EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) in violation of HPC (high-powered committee) recommendations, which isn’t permissible.Therefore, the MC (monitoring committee) herein asks the BRO to first conduct the detailed EIA for the project,” a letter sent to the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary by independent members of the BESZ monitoring committee said.

“In light of the Silkyara tunnel episode, this blatant disregard of the precautionary aspects and the laws in place is totally unacceptable,” the June 27 letter said, referring to the 2023 tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand.

Messages and calls to Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Radha Raturi seeking comments on the objections against the bypass did not elicit a response.

A senior official of the Uttarakhand forest department confirmed that tree marking has taken place for the bypass project and that the proposal was sent to the regional empowered committee of the Environment Ministry for appraisal.

In its justification for choosing the bypass alignment, the BRO told the Environment Ministry, “Due to reduced width of the road at many places between Hina and Tekhla and 3 landslide sites being active as well as to resolve the problems of passengers and public, it has been proposed to construct a bypass in the middle of the said route at Netala.”

Members of the BESZ monitoring committee said that the issue of widening the entire 100-km Uttarkashi-Gangotri stretch under Chardham project was discussed before the committee on June 30 last year. The stretch on NH-34 is one of the components of the project and the Netala bypass is a part of it.

During the meeting, independent members informed the committee about the adverse impacts that muck dumping and tree felling would have on the environment and also pointed out concerns of local residents.

However, the monitoring committee cleared widening work on the entire stretch since it was extremely important from a strategic point of view, according to minutes of the BESZ monitoring committee meeting.

The BRO informed that the issue was referred to the Supreme Court-constituted oversight committee, which said that the monitoring committee should first take a call, according to the minutes.

“The proposal to widen the 100-km stretch was put forth before the committee for discussion at the last minute and the independent members had submitted a dissent note against the clearance,” said an independent member of the committee, who did not want to be named.

When contacted, BRO Commander Vivek Srivastava and Brigadier Prasanna S Joshi, chief engineer, Shivalik Project, Rishikesh — who were present at the BESZ monitoring committee meeting — directed The Indian Express to seek comments from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

Queries mailed to MoRTH Secretary Anurag Jain did not elicit a response.

When asked about the developments on the bypass road and objections raised by the local residents, Justice Sikri told The Indian Express, “I will look into the details of the project.”

The local residents have conveyed their objections to Justice Sikri, saying that instead of the bypass, the existing NH-34 alignment could be widened. This, they said, would prevent environmental damage that is likely due to hill cutting and tree felling.

They also raised concerns that constructing the bypass would affect their livelihoods as the business of hotels and restaurants they own along NH-34 would be affected.