Need wider Char Dham roads to counter China: Govt to SC

The central government had earlier sought court permission to broaden these roads to push religious tourism to the area considered holy by the Hindus but it ran into environmental concerns. Now, it has made a fresh application, through the defence ministry, to the court that this be allowed to counter the Chinese threat to the country from the north.

The government proposes to widen the existing 5.5-metre wide roads to 10 metres to make these areas bordering China more accessible to the security forces. Attorney General KK Venugopal has cited the “tremendous” buildup on the Chinese side to push for it. “Trucks carrying artillery, rocket launchers and tanks may have to pass through these roads,” he said, arguing before a bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud.

The bench is hearing a petition filed by NGO Citizens for Green Doon to oppose the project on environmental grounds. It is being represented in court by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves.

Gonsalves caused a stir in court when he accused the government of pushing the project through under the pretext of national security. The bench said that it could not ignore security concerns of the government on this score.

“The court cannot ignore defence requirements and say that the environment should trump concerns of the army expressed in the light of contemporary developments on the Chinese side,” Justice Chandrachud observed. “Do you have any idea about the buildup on the other side of the border? We do not want the troops to be caught in the 1962 situation,” he said.

“We cannot ignore security concerns. We also need to keep in mind developments which took place at the border in the recent past,” Justice Chandrachud said. He also spoke of the court’s predicament every time it had to grapple with such sensitive competing concerns.