No Link Between Char Dham Road Widening Project And Recent Chamoli Flash Floods, Government Tells SC

On behalf of the Union Defence Ministry, Attorney General KK Venugopal clarified to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that there is no link between Char Dham road widening project in Uttarakhand and the recent Dhauliganga river disaster, Hindustan Times reports.

The three-judge bench comprising of Justices RF Nariman, Hemant Gupta and BR Gavai has adjourned the case for two weeks and allowed the central government two weeks’ time to respond on the matter.

Ravi Chopra is the chairman of a high-powered committee to examine the environmental damages to the Char Dham road project that is currently under construction. He wrote a letter to the apex court and indicated that the disaster in Chamoli was connected to the aforementioned project.

The 900-km initiative attempts to roll out comprehensive connectivity to the Chhota Char Dham, including: Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. The Supreme Court had directed the implementing agencies to cut down the width of the road to 5.5 meters for the project.

Subsequently, the defence ministry filed an application seeking broadening the roads up to 7 meters in the India-China border area. The Supreme Court had provided the concerned committee two weeks’ time on 2nd December 2020 to consider several applications including the defence ministry’s one.