Ex-Union ministers MM Joshi, Karan Singh request CJI to consider appeal to conserve Himalayas

New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) Former Union ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Karan Singh on Friday appealed to Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, requesting urgent cognisance of an appeal for conserving the Himalayas.

A letter said, "The recent climate change impacts in the Himalaya have shaken us to our very core. Just recently, this court has taken cognisance of the existential crisis in the state of Himachal Pradesh, but the situation is similarly precarious and critical all over the western Himalaya, including Jammu and Kashmir." It said that the impact in these areas had far-reaching consequences for downstream regions, and if there was no course correction now, the entire nation would have to bear the brunt.

The letter said it had attached an appeal by various concerned citizens, requesting the CJI to revisit the Supreme Court's judgment regarding the 'Chardham Pariyojana', which permitted "an unsuitable road design in the highways feeding to the border areas in the Himalayan terrain." It said, "This judgement, if not reviewed, will lead to irreparable and immediate impact in the Bhagirathi Eco sensitive zone (BESZ), which is the origin valley of the national river Ganga and is also the site of the recent Dharali disaster." The letter said it was imperative to consider the ecological sensitivity and limitations of the terrain to adopt a disaster and climate resilient approach towards sustainable infrastructure.

"We request your kind consideration and action on the attached appeal," it said.

The appeal said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' (MoRTH's) Chardham Pariyojana involving road-widening of around 900 km in "some of the most sensitive Himalayan river valleys" was heard in the apex court in September 2020, where it directed the ministry to construct roads of Intermediate Width (5.5 m tarred surface) for hill and mountain roads instead of the DL-PS (double lane and Paved shoulder with a 10-metre tarred road and a 12-metre formation width).

It said that the directions were set aside by the Supreme Court in December 2021 in view of MoRTH's amended circular of December 2020 mandating a 10-metre tarred road for feeder highways going to border areas.

"However, past experience and facts now show that it has been proven counterproductive and has made these routes highly unstable and unsafe for both defence and local mobility. Indeed, their heightened landslide susceptibility has now become a national security risk," the appeal said, urging the CJI to "review and recall" the verdict that validated the "devastating DL-PS road width" along with quashing the 2020 circular.

The appeal said that around five years after the verdict, the DL-PS road widening caused massive landslides, sinking zones and other fragile zones on highways because of the enormous destruction of trees, forest cover and hill slopes.

It said, "All the strategic routes, e.g. Badrinath, Gangotri, Pithauragarh, are frequently blocked and are often unusable in the monsoon season, while remaining risky and landslide prone throughout the year." "Moreover, since the construction of the Chardham road widening project, these otherwise stable routes are being hit by such massive and chronic landslides, which are blocking all defence and local movements towards the border for several days." It said the recent Dharali disaster was in the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone, which was one of the last stretches remaining for the Chardham Road Project.

"The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone is the only pristine portion remaining of the entire National River Ganga. A DL-PS road, if constructed in this stretch also, on the justification of defence requirements, will wreak avoidable damage in this extremely fragile stretch, that is already witnessing unprecedented disaster events this year," the appeal said. PTI MNR MNR KSS KSS