Supreme Court Allows Double Lane-Widening Of Roads For Char Dham Road Project

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the center for a DLPS (double-lane paved shoulder) as a part of the Char Dham Road Project. The Supreme Court came with the decision of widening the roads in view of security concerns in the Indo-Chinese border.

It mentions that the court could not second guess the requirements of the army as the recent past has to build serious challenges and difficulties to the security along the border of China.

SC noted that border security concerns need to be met movements of types of equipment and armed forces are essential. The court brought to light the infrastructure requirement of the soldiers in the border area.

Under the Char Dham Road Project, the Supreme Court allowed for the construction of the road that is suitable in all weather with 10m tarred surfaces in opposition to the 5.5m wide road that was ordered earlier.

The Supreme Court was hearing the request by the center asking for modification and changes of the order which dated 8 September 2020. The order urged the ministry of Highway and road transport to follow 5.5 m width on the Char Dhan Roads which continues up to the Chinese border.

The Ministry of Defense has now requested for the modification of the earlier order and urges to bring certain changes like allowing two-lane configuration for national highways from Rishikesh to Mana and Gamgotori, from Tanakpur to Pithoragarh.

The Supreme Court also noted that the ministry of Highway and road transport does not prohibit the double-laning of roads in mountainous and hilly terrains if they are meant for strategic importance or border requirement. There is no interference of judiciary in the needs of defence added SC.

The strategy of the Char Dham Road Project is 900km long Char Dham road worth rupees 12,000 cores with the main objective to support with all-weather connectivity moving towards 4 sacred towns in Uttarakhand- Kedarnath, Gangotri, Badrinath and Yamunotri.

The Supreme Court three members bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud along with Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath said that the Ministry of Defense is a specialized body and can make the decision about the necessity of its operation.

In view of the concern over environmental issues the Supreme Court acknowledges the petitioner's views and said it was creating an oversight committee which would be headed by Justice AK Sikri, former SC Judge. This oversight committee will have representatives from the Ministry of Environment and from National Environmental Research Institute.

The committee with the aim of ensuring implementation of existing suggestions will report to SC after every 4 months mentioning the development of the project.

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