SC agrees to widen the roads of the Char Dham Project

Widening of roads is necessary for 'feeder' roads accessing those on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) is set to clear the path for the widening of roads as part of the Char Dham project. SC agreed with the government's arguments that wider roads in the area were of strategic importance.

According to the statement of court issued on Tuesday, 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 Defence Ministry is a specialised body and can decide its operation requirements, a three-member bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Vikram Nath said.

The bench also added, "armed forces' infrastructure needs have to be met to safeguard borders, and highways that are of strategic importance cannot be treated the same way as those in other hilly terrains."

Despite that, the SC bought the petitioner's environmental concerns and said it was forming an oversight committee to be headed by a former judge of the top court - Justice AK Sikri.

The committee will submit the probe to the SC every four months on the project's progress will also have representatives from the National Environmental Research Institute and the Ministry of Environment. Its objective is to ensure the implementation of existing recommendations.

The 899-km highways project in an ecologically sensitive area of Uttarakhand, which has seen a worrying number of landslides and floods. It will involve the cutting of trees to widen roads that will ultimately connect the four shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.

The road-widening was challenged by Citizens for Green Doon, a local NGO that red-flagged immeasurable destruction to the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.

The government, however, had said widening of roads in the area was necessary because they were 'feeder' roads accessing those on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.