NGT issues objection to construction of 2 bypasses on Char Dham all-weather road
Dehradun: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued an objection to the construction of two bypasses at the Tanakpur-Pithoragarh portion of the all-weather Char Dham road due to the presence of over 8,000 standing trees on the surveyed sites, an official of the Public Works Department (NH division) said on Saturday.
The sites will be resurveyed from the point of view of tunnels instead of bypasses as an alternative, the official said.
"Out of the three bypasses proposed on the 150-km road, two were to be constructed at the Lohaghat-Pithoragarh portion, while third at the Champawat portion, which got a go-ahead from NGT," the official added.
"A high-powered committee, constituted by the Supreme Court, earlier cancelled the construction of three bypasses on the road in 2019 due to the presence of a large number of standing trees. But, the apex court later reconsidered construction of bypasses due to the road being strategically significant, following which they had prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR)," said Sunil Kumar, the executive of PWD (NH division).
According to the NH official, keeping the safety of the standing trees on the way, they will call a tender to prepare a new DPR for the construction of tunnels.
"Though the length of both the bypass roads was 12 km and 7 km respectively, the distance of tunnels will be comparatively lesser."
According to people familiar with the matter, over 8,000 trees, including 4,120 at Lohaghat portion and 4,300 at Pithoragarh portion of the roads were standing on the surveyed sites for the construction of two bypasses. To save these trees, the green tribunal rejected the DPR for construction of both bypasses.
The Tanakpur-Pithoragarh stretch, part of Char Dham all-weather road project, was sanctioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, and the construction of the road began in 2017. It was scheduled to be completed in 2019 but Covid and other technical reasons delayed the project. Authorities have now set a new target to complete it in 2023.
