The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the needs of the defence and environmental concerns need to be balanced while deciding upon the widening of hilly roads in Uttarakhand, NDTV reported.
The court was hearing a non-governmental organisation Green Doon’s petition opposing the broadening of road, saying that felling of trees for the purpose could lead to landslides and harm the wildlife.
The Centre has been wanting to widen the 899-km road of the Char Dham highway project – that connects the four shrines – near Dehradun by 10 metres.
In September last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to keep the width of the Char Dham road at 5.5 meters, Bar and Bench reported.
“We must tell you our predicament in this,” the court said on Tuesday. “If Centre says that they are doing it for tourism, then we understand and we can impose more stringent conditions. But when it is needed to defend the borders, then it is a serious predicament [the] Court has to encounter in cases like these.”
Attorney General KK Venugopal, representing the Centre, said that wide roads had “strategic importance” as China was stationing troops on the border adjoining Uttarakhand, NDTV reported.
He added that the Indian Army needed the feeder roads to be of a certain width to transport men and material, Bar and Bench reported. “[The] Army was ignored in this matter and Army’s needs (must) be presented here before the Court,” he said.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Green Doon, said that the broadening of road could have catastrophic effects on the Himalayas. He recounted the fact that the Supreme Court had stayed 24 projects in the region after observing damages caused by the existing 17 hydroelectric plants in the Himalayas.
Gonsalves claimed that the hilly areas of Uttarakhand had witnessed 16 landslides in the monsoon. “Every pahadi [ a person who lives in the hilly areas] knows that mountains are being blasted to make roads and mountains can’t take it,” he added.
The court said that defence concerns could not be overlooked especially in the light of ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control with China. However, the court said it was in a dilemma of choosing between the concerns of the Army and the environmental activists.
“We cannot deny the fact that at such a height, the security of the nation is at stake,” the Supreme Court said, according to the Bar and Bench. “Can the highest constitutional court say that we will override the defence needs particularly in the face of recent events [conflicts with China]? Can we say that the environment will triumph over the defence of the nation?”
The hearing will continue on Wednesday.
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