Chardham panel chief's letter to SC puts road ministry and Uttarakhand govt in a fix

NEW DELHI: The chairman of the Supreme Court appointed high powered committee (HPC) for the Chardham road project has written a fresh letter to the apex court alleging violation of the SC order and reiterating that the road ministry must build only an intermediate lane (5.5 metre) throughout the stretch.
This fresh letter from the panel chairman, Ravi Chopra to the Supreme Court secretary general on October 5 has put the Centre and Uttarakhand governments in a fix as both the governments are working to complete the project to provide smooth connectivity to the four holy places of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. Chopra in recent months has written a few letters to the road transport and environment ministries and the Uttarakhand government alleging fresh hill cutting on the Chardham corridor project.
Chopra has said “intermediate lane of 5.5 metre alone should be followed” throughout the Chardham route and where excess hill cutting has been done mitigation measures like planting trees be done to protect the Himalayan terrain and a footpath be provided for the “padyatris” and the local people as recommended by the HPC.
The HPC chairman has also written that the road transport ministry has informed him that suspending hill cutting for the stretch for which works has been awarded could lead to contractual disputes “in the absence of direction from a fully functional HPC”.
Sources said the HPC directions have been coming from its chairman and not from the committee after consulting its members. They added that the ministry is committed to maintain 5.5 metre width on 13 stretches for which works have not been sanctioned and awarded.
Since bituminous work has been carried out on substantial stretch of the corridor, hence removing the tarred portion to reduce width won’t be a good proposition, sources added.
Chopra has referred to the road ministry’s notification to acquire land for setting toll plazas. He has said since the tolling can start only on stretches of two-lane with paved shoulders (10 metres), it was evident that the government was going ahead with its earlier plan of wider roads.