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Char Dham road width: Centre files new affidavit seeking SC acceptance of 10 metres width, cites China border tension

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court urging it to accept the majority view of the high-level committee, which has suggested a width of 10 metres for the Rs 12,000-crore Char Dham highway project.

The matter was listed for hearing before the bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, K.M. Joseph and Ajay Rastogi. The bench has asked the petitioner to file their reply/objections if any to the MORTH report. The matter will now be heard on the non-miscellaneous day in the last week of January.

The interim order passed by the Apex Court to keep the road width at 5.5 metres along the Char Dham route continues in the meantime.

According to the Ministry, 21 out of 26 members of the court-appointed High Powered Committee (HPC) have said that there should be a broad road to facilitate movement of military forces along the Indo-China border and ensure availability of better facilities for the locals.

The Ministry has agreed that HPC should monitor the Char Dham road project, that has been started to improve connectivity to the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.

The Apex court had in September 2020 ordered that the road width on the entire Char Dham route cannot be more than 5.5 metres in view of the Ministry’s own circular in 2018. This was followed by the MoRTH and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking a modification of this order due to security concerns and tensions along the Indo-China border.

The MoRTH recently on December 15, 2020, amended its previous circular and increased the road width in hilly and mountainous terrain along the Indo-China border to 10 metres.

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