Supreme Court okays Chardham highway project.

The Supreme Court has cleared the decks for Char Dham highway project, which will connect four holy places in Uttarakhandthrough a 900-km all-weather road, by modifying an NGT order to constitute a fresh committee to look into environmental concerns.

It ordered the ministry of environment and forest to form the high-powered committee by August 22. NGO Citizen for Green Doon had petitioned the SC after the NGT on September 26 gave its conditional approval to the connectivity project in view of larger public interest.

Hearing the NGO’s petition, SC bench comprising of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Surya Kant modified the September NGT order by constituting a fresh high-powered committee. The court added representatives from physical research laboratory under government’s space department, Dehradun-based wildlife institute of India, MoEF (from Dehradun regional office) and defence ministry. It asked the committee to submit its recommendations within four months.

TOI