Char Dham challenge: MM Joshi, Karan Singh urge Cupboard ministers to cancel highway widening clearances in Uttarkashi | India Information
2 min learnNew DelhiMar 3, 2026 02:30 AM IST
BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi and former Union minister Karan Singh wrote to Cupboard ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Bhupender Yadav and Border Roads Organisation on Monday looking for cancellation of forest clearances granted to 2 key highway widening stretches below Char Dham challenge within the higher reaches of Ganga in Uttarakhand in mild of the rising catastrophe threat within the fragile area.
Additionally they demanded that ongoing and proposed works within the Bhagirathi Eco-Delicate Zone be assessed afresh and the highway width within the Bhagirathi valley be restricted to five.5 metres. This, they stated, ought to be carried out in keeping with the calls for of the native residents, established scientific and engineering rationale and the terrain’s geological and ecological vulnerability.
The letter was additionally endorsed by former RSS ideologue and founder, Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan, KN Govindacharya, former MP Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh and members of Himalayi Nagrik Drishti Manch, a citizen discussion board in Uttarakshi.
The senior politicians stated considerably quicker warming within the Himalayas is leading to frequent and extreme disasters. They cited the examples of the August 2025 Dharali and Harsil catastrophe, and previous disasters in Chamoli. The letter sought to emphasize that the forest clearances accorded to fell 7,000 bushes in a Deodar forest on the Jhala-Jangla stretch in addition to the Netala bypass, run opposite to the suggestions of a high-powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court docket which granted conditional clearance to the Char Dham challenge.
The leaders alleged that these clearances had been unlawful not solely as a result of they had been opposite to the Supreme Court docket panel’s suggestions, but in addition as a result of they violated the “precautionary precept”. In regards to the Jhala-Jangla stretch, the letter acknowledged: “This forest stands on unfastened particles and unstable geological materials, within the very space of the current Dharali catastrophe.”
The veteran leaders stated they’ve been assured on the highest ranges of the federal government that these issues and pleadings are below energetic consideration.