Chardham project: Follow 2018 circular by highway ministry, says SC

While the majority favoured increasing the width to 12 metres, the minority, including the committee chairman, backed 5.5 metres for the carriageway and additional paved shoulder — taking the total width to about 7 to 7.5 metres — for use by pedestrians/pilgrims who take the trek to the holy sites by foot.

Hearing the matter on Tuesday, a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta “all you have to do is to go by your (MoRTH) 2018 guidelines”. The Solicitor General pointed out that the “minority view” of the High Powered Committee had favoured the 2018 circular fixing width as 5.5 metre for intermediate carriageway. On the recommendation for increasing the width, he said this was because the project area falls near the India-China border, more width is needed for movement of military vehicles.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioner NGO, however, said that 7-7.5 metres was enough for military officials.

He also referred to the HPC report pointing to authorities allegedly flouting environmental norms in the construction.

The committee was constituted by the Supreme Court to look into the ecological impact of the ‘Chardham Pariyojana’.

In August last year, the apex court cleared the decks for the Chardham highway project by modifying a National Green Tribunal order to constitute a High-Powered Committee to look into environmental concerns.