Wider roads for Char Dham

Noting that it ‘cannot second-guess the infrastructural needs of the Armed Forces’, the Supreme Court has allowed the widening of three hill stretches in Uttarakhand that are part of the Char Dham Highway project — Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri and Tanakpur to Pithoragarh. A three-member Bench modified the apex court’s order of September 2020, in which it had ruled that the width of the roads under the project must adhere to the guidelines issued in 2018, which had prescribed a width of 5.5 metres for the carriageway. The court, thus, accepted the contention of the government that the armed forces needed wider roads in the region in order to transport their most potent arms and equipment to the China border, which has been under a constant threat due to incursions by the Red Army.

The court was presented with a very difficult choice — India’s territorial integrity vis-a-vis environmental fragility in the Himalayas, the most volatile mountain range in the world. The court reached the most pragmatic verdict, putting national security on a higher pedestal, even as it noted that the ‘project is riddled with environmental issues’ and set up an Oversight Committee to ensure that concerns over environmental degradation are addressed. An NGO, Citizens for Green Doon, had argued that disaster-resistant roads of smaller dimension would serve the armed forces better. There is no question that the mountains of Uttarakhand are vulnerable to landslides and floods, and the government must spare no expense to ensure that the most advanced construction techniques are used to implement the project so that the roads remain operational throughout the year: Whether single-lane or double-lane, a road loses its value if it is blocked by landslides every few weeks or during long periods in the rainy season.

There has to be a balance between public good and the environment: Hearing another case, the court gave clearance to 53 projects on forest land in Himachal Pradesh. This will involve felling of 262 trees — this has to be juxtaposed with countless people benefiting from connectivity provided to them by 47 new roads. The valid concerns of the environmentalists must be addressed, too, through fortification of the mountains and reforestation projects on a war footing. Progress and ecological care must go hand in hand.