NGT reserves judgment on Chardham highway project

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reserved its judgment on a plea that has alleged that the Centre is executing work on the 900-km long Chardham all-weather road project in Uttarakhand without due environmental clearances. The NGT had admitted the plea, filed by Citizens for Green Doon, earlier in February and had also passed directions restraining Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) from felling trees in certain stretches and ordered them to stop muck dumping in the river valley.

A bench headed by acting chairperson Jawad Rahim and comprising of Justice SP Wangdi and expert member Nagin Nanda heard brief closing arguments from both parties, who also made submissions to the Tribunal.

The petitioner has broadly alleged that the Centre has circumvented environmental clearances by breaking down the project in several smaller stretches while on the other hand, it has sanctioned work under the banner of a single 'Chardham Mahamarg Pariyojana'.

In submissions made to the bench on Thursday, the petitioner sought to point out that there were discrepancies in the arguments presented by MoRTH about the status of permissions obtained for the project. The petitioner said that Centre has begun work around national parks and sanctuaries, falling on the project route, even as environment ministry is yet to notify eco-sensitive zones of these protected areas. This, it alleged, was contrary to law as the necessary permissions to undertake work around these parks were not obtained.

The Centre, on its part, has argued that it has not violated any law and obtained due permissions to fell trees for the project. It argued that the project is of national importance and in national interest, especially because roads are being widened close to China border.

It added that contrary to Centre's claims that no work has commenced in the notified Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone stretch between Gomukh and Uttarkashi 1,200 large Deodar trees have been felled by Border Roads Organisation. This was already pointed out to the NGT in a case last year.