The Chairman of the Apex Court appointed High Powered Committee (HPC) for the Chardham road project has written a fresh letter to the Supreme Court alleging violation of the Top Court order & 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 Apex Court Secretary-General on Oct 5 has put the Centre and Uttarakhand Govts in a fix as both the Govts are working to complete the project to provide smooth connectivity to the 4 holy places of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. Chopra in recent months has written a few letters to the road transport & Environment Ministries & the Uttarakhand Govt 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 & where excess hill cutting has been done mitigation measures like planting trees be done to protect the Himalayan terrain & a footpath be provided for the “padyatris” & 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 & 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 & awarded.
Sources added that 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.
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 2-lane with paved shoulders (10 metres), it was evident that the Govt was going ahead with its earlier plan of wider roads.
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