Green and secure char dham highway project must see government and environmentalists work together

Green and secure char dham highway project must see government and environmentalists work together

The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on an appeal by the ministry of defence (MoD) for relaxing its September 2020 order regarding the Char Dham Highway Development project. But the whole issue has turned into a defence versus environment debate. Recall that the project is a flagship initiative of the Centre that sought to widen 889km of mountainous road to provide all-weather connectivity to Uttarakhand’s Char Dham shrines. However, the project also has a security dimension given the current situation at the India-China border.

But as environmentalists and NGOs have pointed out, unthinkingly widening the road in such an eco-sensitive zone will have severe consequences for a state that has been grappling with major landslides and environmental degradation. Just in February this year the Tapovan Hydro-Electric Power Dam was completely washed off following a massive landslide in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. Keeping this in mind the SC in September 2020 had upheld the recommendations in the minority report of a high-powered committee to limit the flagship project’s carriageway to 5.5m. But the majority report of the same committee had agreed to a 12m widening. The latter would involve additional deforestation, slope cutting and tunneling.

Needless to say this would further impact the ecological sensitivity of the area. But the MoD has now put its weight behind a double-lane road suitable for the army. Clearly, some sort of balance has to be struck between the needs of military and environmental concerns. Recent India-China border tensions mean that New Delhi has no choice but to improve its border infrastructure in the eco-sensitive Himalayan zone. But national security should not be conceptualised only in terms of military needs. If project execution leads to faster environmental degradation, massive flooding and landslides that in turn lead to huge loss of property and lives, that too undermines national security.

The best solution here would be for government and environmentalists to work with each other instead of at cross-purpose. However, the government had previously indicated that it may exempt defence projects from green requirements. In the Char Dham project, the ministry of road transport and highways actually amended its previous guidelines for mountainous roads to support the government’s widening plans. Such dilution of environmental policy can be problematic. Hence, a fresh approach for all border infrastructure that looks at environmental impact transparently should be the SOP.