Chardham Highway project: SC nod to construction of over 880-km all-weather roads; Chardham Yatra gets a boost
Chardham Highway project: Tourists visiting four pilgrim-destinations in Uttarakhand popularly known as ‘Char Dham’ will soon have the convenience of all-weather roads connecting these places. The Supreme Court has modified the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order and cleared the decks for construction of over 880-km all-weather roads under the Chardham highway project. However, the apex court has ordered to form a panel to study environmental concerns related to the project. A high-powered committee (HPC) is being constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, according to a PTI report.
On September 26, 2018, the NGT gave its conditional nod to the Chardham highway project in view of larger public interest. It, however, stated the project would cause irreversible damage to regional ecology, the PTI report said. After that NGO Citizen for Green Doon filed a petitioned in the apex court. Subsequently, NGT had directed to constitute a panel headed by a former Uttarakhand High Court Judge to monitor the project.
