ENVIROMENT LAW ASSIGNMENT
ARTICLE
CHAARDHAM PROJECT: - The Himalayan
Blunder
Submitted by: - Submitted To: -
Aryan Shukla Jayashree Mam
Roll No: - C:04
BBA.LL. B SEM IX
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ENVIRONMENT LAW EIA IMPACT CASE STUDIES, Summaries of Environmental Law
eia,wildlife,mc mehta,environment jurisproudence
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ENVIROMENT LAW ASSIGNMENT
ARTICLE
CHAARDHAM PROJECT: - The Himalayan
Blunder
Submitted by: - Submitted To: -
Aryan Shukla Jayashree Mam
Roll No: - C:
BBA.LL. B SEM IX
CHAARDHAM PROJECT: A HIMALYAN BLUNDER
Chaardham is the one of the holiest sites for Hindus in the mountain ranges of Uttarakhand. These sites are in the Himalayan ranges. Himalayas are one of the youngest mountains range which means that these mountains are not stable which causes lots of landslides and soil erosion. The Journey to Chaardham starts from Rishikesh and Includes Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamnotri. Lakhs of tourist come to visit these holy sites every year but for most part of the year these sites are closed due to poor connectivity through the roads and also heavy snowfalls. The Himalayan ranges are the UNESCO world heritage sites. The ecological balance in the Himalayas is very subtle the people who live there have huge respect for the mountains and the ecosystem. What is Chaardham Project:- To ease the connectivity to these sites the government had planned to establish a road development project of 958 Kms to connect the all 4 sites starting from Rishikesh the total cost of the project is 12000 crores the project will also help the Indian troops movement around the border as the area is very close to India China border therefore this project is being developed by the Border road organisation and NHAI. The roads to Chaardham are very much prone to accident there is no safety of the vehicle and pilgrims, it is considered as one of the toughest road in the world the journey to Chaardham is very hectic and slow to improve which government is developing these roads. Every year there are number of land slides in these mountains which kills number of people tourists as well as locals most of the time around the year these roads are blocked due to landslides, snowfalls. Therefore, the need for development in the area is important but the question lies is at what cost? What is the issue with the project? According to scientists the ecosystem in Himalaya and soil is very delicate even the slightest disturbance can hinder the environment beyond repairs. It is the source to the river ganga the lifeline of India and the source of life and livelihood to crores of Indians. According to MoEFCC norms the EIA i.e. Environment Impact Assessment is necessary when there is a 100 Km Linear Stretch project but it seems government has found a loophole to oversee this rule. The Government has divided this project in 53 small project and neither of them is a 100km Linear project therefore the government doesn’t feel the need to conduct the Environment Impact Assessment. According to the national environment policy Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will continue to be the principal methodology for appraising and reviewing new projects. However, in the present case this provision has been purposely overlooked by the authorities. Supreme Court Intervenes: - The Supreme Court had earlier in 2019 appointed a 19 - member high Powered committee in the year 2019 when the case first came before the supreme court the committee is headed by Environmentalist
failing to learn from its past mistakes. In the year 2013 in Uttarakhand floods there was heavy loss of life and infrastructure the connectivity to remote areas was totally disrupted the major reason for infrastructure damage during this flash flood was the area was not planned and developed there was hotels, resorts and homes very close to the river bank mountains were cut to build tourists stays and which disrupted the flow of water in the area had it been planned and developed loss would not have been this large scale. Houses were washed away in the flash flood same could be the scenario if the government keeps overseeing the development in the ecologically sensitive zones. Another environmental issue in development of this project is the dumping of excavated material in the river ganga. According to guidelines the excavated material should be dumped in the dumping zone but the dump here is the River Ganga which is used as the dumping zone by the contractors. Which again can have horrendous results. Such dumping first of all pollutes the river which is source of life to the millions. Secondly it makes the water muddy and harms the marine ecosystem in the river. In the time of floods the stones and mud excavated causes loss to human life. According to an estimate about 19 million tons of debris will be generated while developing this road which is going to be dumped in the river Mandakani which further joins the river Ganga. Imagine the magnitude of the loss to marine ecosystem and the River by dumping of the waste. The High Court of Uttarakhand had ordered the government to recognize the dumping site 500 meters away from the river and halt all the development projects until it is done but the government has turned its ear deaf and the dumping of the waste in the river still continues. The Environment and water laws are taken for granted by the government while developing the area. The large scale deforestation is another major issue which the government has ignored according to another estimate the around 3000 trees will be cut to develop the project many of them are hundreds of years old and even worshipped by the locals however the government promises to plant even more trees than cut once the project is completed but the authorities have to understand that planting trees in a plateau an in a plain won’t reverse the damage in the hilly areas which has occurred due to deforestation. The trees unlike the plateau have one more function in the hilly areas that is to hold the soil the trees hold the soils in the hills which decreases the incidents of landslides and also soil erosion. The development of the infrastructure is indeed an important thing and having an all-weather road in such areas which are disconnected with major part of the country for a considerable part of the year is even more important but development should not come at the cost of environment. There should be sustainable development keeping in mind the ecology, ecosystem and the sensitivity of the area being developed. The Himalayas are very sensitive areas in past also there have been instances of land slides and the flood of 2013 is the biggest lesson which the authorities should have learnt before undertaking any development project in the area. Definitely the journey now will be less hectic, enjoyable but this should not come at the cost of the environment. The government should at the earliest conduct the
Environment impact assessment to calculate the gravity of loss to the environment by undertaking such a huge project, And should compensate to the environment and the locals for the loss and reduce the width of the road as suggested by the High court appointed committee so that the mountains don’t need to be excavated much so that there aren’t increased cases of landslides and other natural disasters the dumping of the debris in the river should be stopped. The Supreme Court in an order in September said the 2018 circular of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on width of roads in hilly and mountainous terrains be followed in construction of Chaardham highway project, providing all- weather connectivity to four holy towns of Uttarakhand. The circular says that carriageway width shall be of intermediate lane configurations, that is of 5.5 metre width, with two-lane structures. The four towns of hilly state of Uttarakhand which would be connected by the ambitious all-weather 900-km highway project are -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. The supreme court has again set a precedent against the environmental violations by the authorities. However the justice has been delayed because the most of the excavation has already been done and there has been no solution of mass deforestation and large scale dumping of debris in the river. However, with the order of the supreme court there seems to be a light in the end of the tunnel. It is also the duty of citizens to speak against the injustice being done to the environment in the name of development the authorities also cannot ignore the procedures which are there in place to control the environmental blunders and Environment Impact assessment is one such procedure which cannot be ignored at any cost and must be conducted before taking any developmental activity of this magnitude.