Centre: Uttarakhand disaster not due to Char Dham project
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 17
The Centre on Wednesday denied before the Supreme Court that the Char Dham road widening project had anything to do with the recent Rishiganga valley disaster in Uttarakhand in which dozens of people died and several others went missing.
Attorney General KK Venugopal told a Bench, headed Justice RF Nariman, that the Centre would like to respond to a letter written by Ravi Chopra, chairman of a high-powered committee, in which several ‘allegations’ had been made with regard to broadening of road and the recent disaster in Uttarakhand.
The strategic 900-km Rs 12,000-crore Char Dham highway project aims to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — in Uttarakhand up to the India-China border. The high-powered committee is monitoring the project.
Venugopal said Chopra had on his own written the letter to the government linking the broadening of the road to the recent flash floods on Dhauliganga river, which damaged Tapovan hydro project.
“You file a response to it,” the Bench told the Attorney General and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.
The top court had on January 18 asked the parties to file their objections, if any, on the report filed by the high-powered committee.
The Centre wanted the court to accept the majority report of 21-members of the high-powered committee submitted on December 31 last year recommending the road to be developed to be two-lane with paved shoulders (10 m wide carriageway) considering the strategic requirement and snow removal needs.
It said three members, including chairman Ravi Chopra (minority report), were still impressing upon the width of 5.5 m as provided under the earlier circular dated March 23, 2018, issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, notwithstanding the security needs of the country and the need of the defence forces to resist external aggression, if any, as the Indo-China border.
It said the majority report had taken a holistic view of the matter keeping in mind the social, economic and strategic needs of the country and protecting the environment.
