The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has stated that the planned widening of the Gangotri-Dharasu stretch as part of the Chardham project in the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ) complies with the Supreme Court’s December 2021 order, which conditionally approved the project while mandating environmental protection measures.
In a letter dated September 3 to the divisional forest officer in Uttarkashi, the BRO stated that the Supreme Court had classified the Rishikesh-Gangotri road as a strategic route in its 2021 judgment, allowing its widening and rehabilitation with paved shoulders.
The agency’s response came after Himalayi Nagrik Drishti Manch, a civil society group, raised concerns with the Union Environment Ministry. The group claimed that the BRO was advancing the widening of the Gangotri-Dharasu section within the ecologically sensitive BESZ without proper environmental impact assessments and suggested the construction of a bypass that contravenes the recommendations of the high-powered committee (HPC) appointed by the Supreme Court.
The civil society group urged the cancellation of two proposals seeking forest clearance for the widening project. The Gangotri-Dharasu stretch lies within the BESZ, a 4,157-square-kilometer area designated in 2012 to safeguard the River Ganga’s ecology and watershed near its source.
According to an Indian Express report, the BRO noted that the Supreme Court’s oversight committee reviewed the project in October 2022 and accepted that the bypass at Sukhi Top, Netala, and Garampani appeared more practical. However, the committee emphasised the need for further evaluation of issues related to hill cutting, muck disposal, tree removal, transplantation, public convenience, costs, and timeframes. The HPC had recommended that the Netala bypass be dropped due to its potential negative environmental and social impacts.
BRO Commander Vivek Srivastava declined to comment on the matter.