The relaxations will largely benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Char Dham all-weather highway project, paving the way for a 94-km stretch that falls in the ESZ.
The Environment Ministry has relaxed the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) notification allowing limited land use conversion to improve civic amenities and infrastructure development for the public and national security in Uttarakhand. It will also allow infrastructure works even on steep slopes, after environmental impact studies.
The relaxations will largely benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Char Dham all-weather highway project, paving the way for a 94-km stretch that falls in the ESZ.
A top official of the ministry said the amendments are strictly for the public and government infrastructure.
It could not be confirmed whether the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga had given their comments on the amendments.
In 2012, the Environment Ministry had notified a 100-km stretch between Gaumukh and Uttarkashi.
The area spread across 4,179 sq km as an ESZ to protect the fragile ecology of the Bhagirathi River's watershed area and regulate development. The notification banned riverbed mining, new hydropower projects, construction on slopes, polluting industries, and commercial tree felling.
The Centre's easing of restrictions in the Bhagirathi ESZ comes in the wake of persistent demands from successive Uttarakhand state governments to review the regulation. In recent meetings with the Centre,
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had conveyed that the notification was causing hardships to the local community, besides affecting the Char Dham highway work. His predecessor, Congress's Harish Singh Rawat, too, had repeatedly sought dilution of the ESZ notification and had initially found support from the Environment Ministry.
The amendments in the 2012 notification would have to be ratified in the Zonal Master Plan (ZMP) of the ESZ, which is currently being drafted by the Uttarakhand government and has been delayed by four years now. The earlier master plan, prepared by the Congress government, had proposed a host of development activities contrary to the 2012 notification but was rejected by Centre, chiefly due to opposition from Uma Bharti, the former Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga rejuvenation. Bharti's ministry had cited that allowing construction, new hydel projects and mining in the area would prove disasterous for the ESZ.
But Bharti's successor Nitin Gadkari, who is also overseeing the Char Dham road project as Highways Minister, has adopted a contrary view and has actively batted for infrastructure and construction in the fragile region.
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