Char Dham road plan ‘spells disaster': Experts say Dharali flash flood validates warnings; press for slope-stable design
Their caution, sent in a letter on Tuesday to the Union ministry of road transport and highways, came days after the Aug 5 flood in Dharali village brought down massive debris from glacier-fed streams, washing away homes.
Senior geologist Navin Juyal and environmentalist Hemant Dhyani, both members of the scrutiny committee for the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone's zonal master plan, had submitted a detailed report about it in Oct 2023 as sought by MoRTH.
Flash flood played out almost exactly as experts had predicted
The survey mapped the upper Bhagirathi valley's most unstable slopes and proposed an alternate design that they said could keep the road functional without undermining slope stability.
Juyal, a former senior scientist at Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, has since resigned from the high-powered committee overseeing the Char Dham project; Dhyani remains on it.
The Aug 5 flood played out almost exactly as they had predicted. At Dharali, one cirque stream burst through, dragging tons of rock and soil into the valley. In Bhatwari, a highway stretch almost sunk - in a zone they had documented as sinking 12mm to 22mm annually.
In their latest note, the experts urged adoption of alternate DPR design as given in Oct 2023 report and full enforcement of the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone notification. They also backed extending eco-sensitive protections across the higher Himalayan valleys.
The Char Dham road widening project in its current form in BESZ will spell disaster otherwise," Dhyani said. Pankaj Singh, head of the ministry's Dehradun office, said work was under way in line with SC directions and the Oct 2023 report.
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