Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: India's infrastructure play to counter China threat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the project in 2016. The project, called Char Dham Mahamarg, will comprise nearly 900 km of highways, including several bridges and tunnels, and will cost Rs 12,000 crore. The project had courted controversy due to concerns raised over building of roads in ecoologically fragile areas.
The Char Dham project controversy
In 2018, several NGOs challenged the project in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), arguing that construction of roads would harm the already fragile mountain ecosystem due to excavation, deforestation and collection of resultant debris on the hills, all of which could contribute to landslides.
The NGT ruled out the need for environment impact assessment since it was not a single project but several different roads, each less than 100 km. It had suggested constitution of a panel to oversee environmental aspects of the project. But the NGT order was challenged in the Supreme Court. The SC ordered that the carriageway width for the Char Dham project should not exceed 5.5 metre as prescribed in a 2018 circular of the Union Road Transport Ministry.
The Defence Ministry sought a modification in the order to allow the width to be of 10 metre so that heavy machinery like missile launchers could be easily moved up to the Indo-China border. The government had argued that wide highways were required since they would work as feeder roads to the Indo-China border and help move soldiers and heavy weaponry in case of a conflict. The SC had then asked a high-powered committee to oversee the project.
Acknowledging the defence forces' need for better roads in border areas for operational reasons in view of the tensions along the India-China border, the SC
