shine india subscription Published this article page no 26 The highway will be called Char Dham Mahamarg(Char Dham Highway) and the highway construction project will be called Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana(Char Dham Highway Development Project). What Are The Environmental Concerns That Were Flagged? 1. Largescale construction works in hilly terrain is a recipe for disaster as it leads to a heightened risk of landslides given the felling of trees and loosening of rocks. 2. The project was being executed bypassing mandatory environment clearances and environment impact assessment (EIA) procedures. 3. Over 25000 trees have reportedly been felled to make way for the project as a grave worry for the ecologically sensitive zone. 4. Since wider carriageways would require more excavation and blasting the purpose of having an allweather highway may be compromised since the topography would become that much more sensitive to slippage and landslides. Developments so far wrt the Chardham Project 1. The foundation stone for the Char Dham road project was laid by PM Narendra Modi in December 2016. 2. But the project was challenged on environmental grounds in courts with petitioners alleging irregularities visavis environmental clearances for the project and that it was being pursued in violation of existing norms. 3. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) cleared the project in September 2018 but its order was challenged for being passed by a bench different from the one that had heard the matter. Supreme Court stayed the NGT order in October 2018. 4. In September 2020 it passed an order on a writ petition stating that highways for the Char Dham project should not exceed 5.5m in width as prescribed in a 2018 circular of the Union Road Transport Ministry. But the Defence Ministry had in December that year sought a modification in the order to allow the width to be of 10m. 5. The top court then asked its highpowered committee (HPC) to look into the contentions raised by the Centre on the width of the highways shine india subscription buy.
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