A team of Tehri district administration, which held an inspection of the ongoing All Weather Road Project on the Char Dham route, found excessive dumping of material at designated zones and debris falling into the Ganga. Following which, the team which inspected the locations from Devprayag to Kaudiyala has recommended a penalty of Rs 15.88 crore on the private firm involved in the process and seized four of its vehicles.
On September 7, the Supreme Court had given its final seal of approval to the Char Dham national highway project to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns of Uttarakhand, but restrained the Centre from widening roads in the hills beyond five-and-a-half metres citing a 2018 circular of the road transport and highways ministry.
The Trivendra Singh Rawat government, after the SC order, has appealed to the Centre that in wake of the state’s “strategic” location it was important to have broad roads leading towards the China border. Meanwhile, the head of the Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee Ravi Chopra sought information from the state about the authorised muck dumping sites for the All Weather Road project.
