‘Review and recall’ judgment on Char Dham project, BJP veteran M M Joshi, Karan Singh appeal to CJI

Joshi and Singh said that a 2020 circular of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which allowed the widening, should be quashed and an intermediate road width of 5.5 metres should be adopted as discussed previously. They said that building a double-laned paved-shoulder road on the pristine Uttarkashi to Gangotri stretch will wreak avoidable damage in the fragile area, which is already witnessing “unprecedented disaster events” this year.

“This judgment, if not reviewed, will lead to irreparable and immediate impact. Bhagirathi Eco sensitive zone (BESZ) which is the origin of the National River Ganga is also the site of the recent Dharali disaster,” the letter to the CJI stated.

“In view of the safety of lives and livelihood of people and all-weather movement of defence forces, it is imperative to consider the ecological sensitivity and limitation of the terrain so as to adopt a disaster and climate resilient approach towards sustainable infrastructure,” it added.

2021 judgment ‘hazardous to Himalayan terrain’
On December 14, 2021, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice D Y Chandrachud had upheld the Centre’s plan to widen three national highways – Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri and Tanakpur to Pithoragarh – as “strategic feeder roads” to border areas near China. It allowed a plea by the Ministry of Defence permitting double-laned paved-shoulder (DL-PS) configuration for these three highways, and formed an oversight committee headed by Justice A K Sikri to ensure implementation of the projects with environmental mitigation measures.

The larger Char Dham Pariyojana involves widening of about 825 km of highways in the Himalayas. The Centre had divided the entire project into 53 packages and as per a June 11 government press note, work on 629 km had been completed.

In the letter to the CJI, it is stated that adoption of the DL-PS road width of 10 m tarred road and a 12 m formation width violated a 2018 circular of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, which had specifically recommended an intermediate width of 5.5 m tarred surface for hill and mountain roads. The veteran politicians added that while the Supreme Court favoured the smaller width in a 2020 verdict, it was overturned in 2021. The 2021 judgment, the letter said, has proven “counterproductive and hazardous to the Himalayan terrain.”

They added that all strategic routes such as Badrinath, Gangotri, Pithoragarh, are frequently blocked and are often unusable in monsoon season, while remaining risky and landslide-prone throughout the year. “Moreover, since the construction of Chardham road widening project, these otherwise stable routes are being hit by such massive and chronic landslides which are blocking all defence and local movements towards the border for several days,” the letter stated.

Bypass approved against panel’s recommendations
The letter then goes on appeal that the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone, which falls on the Uttarkashi to Gangotri route, should be spared of 12-metre-wide roads. It pointed out that in contradiction to recommendations of a high-powered committee, a bypass was given ‘in-principle approval’ on this stretch.

This bypass, it added, demands the felling of about 3,000 trees and shall impact 17 hectares of forest area while another stretch in the same valley proposes felling of 6,000 deodar trees for widening with the DL-PS standards. “In a valley that has just witnessed a severe avalanche that buried hundreds of people, sacrificing trees that arrest these avalanches, is tantamount to a crime as it directly threatens the lives of the residents in the valley & the tourists too,” the letter stated.

The Indian Express reported last month that the Uttarakhand Forest Department had granted in-principle approval for the bypass project despite concerns raised by local residents as well as the Supreme Court’s high-powered committee.

The appeal underlined that recurring disasters in the Himalayas are not only claiming lives but also inflicting significant economic losses to the nation. The letter cited the incidents during this year’s monsoon and said the Uttarakhand government has sought approximately Rs 5,700 crore in disaster relief to address damages and reinforce vulnerable structures.

“Reports already place the current season’s losses at around Rs 5,000 crore — the highest since the devastating Kedarnath floods of 2013 which caused damages estimated at $3.8 billion and wiped out nearly Rs 4,000 crore in reconstruction needs, apart from $1 billion in lost tourism revenue,” it stated.