What Uttarakhand floods mean for the Char Dham project

The February 7 Uttarakhand floods that claimed 38 lives, caused destruction in many villages of the state and disrupted two power projects in the area, have cast a shadow on the Char Dham road project in the area worth Rs 12,072 crore.

The Char Dham project is not one but a group of 53 road projects in Uttarakhand. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways clubbed a majority of highway projects in the state under this project to redevelop existing a network of roads nearly 825-km long. This aimed to provide better connectivity from Rishikesh to Janki Chati for Yamunotri, Gangotri, Gaurikund for Kedarnath and Mana.

The state government has finished 50 per cent of the project, according to a report by Business Standard, but the most demanding projects in the landslide-prone areas or near glaciers have not started yet.

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The whole project was scheduled to be completed before the Kumbh Mela in March this year, which is nearly impossible viewing the events in Chamoli. A Ministry source told the publication that there are no new deadlines for the projects as of now.

The controversial road stretching 94 km from Uttarkashi to Gangotri may be impacted, but the avalanche on February 7 did not affect it directly since this is located on the other side of the mountain.

The Char Dham project was under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in 2019 when the top court appointed a committee to evaluate the feasibility of the project with respect to environmental concerns. This was done after public interest litigations filed by environmental activists in Dehradun. The government had filed affidavits with the court justifying the project in the state.

Concerns around development projects in the area are bound to increase after the disaster last week.