The Uttarakhand High Court has recently directed the District Magistrate, Tehri Garhwal, to take immediate action and clear excavated material while building the Char Dham project.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik said this while disposing the PIL filed by Jot Singh Bisht.
The case of the petitioner is that the Border Roads Organization has undertaken the construction of the Char Dham project, which entails the construction of roads through Uttarakhand in general, and a road between Chamba to Nagurgad, on the Rishikesh–Gangotri National Highway in particular.
The petitioner claimed that while the said construction is continuing, trees are being cut, the mountains are being carved, and the stones, which are extracted from the mountain side, are either left unattended, or are permitted to fall down the mountains, thereby damaging the nearby area.
In order to highlight the damage being done to the environment, not only the petitioner, but even others have submitted their representations.
Akshay Joshi, the counsel for the petitioner, alleged that despite the representations dated 30.06.2021, 13.10.2021 and 20.10.2021 submitted by other individuals, no substantial steps have been taken by the concerned authority. Meanwhile, due to the neglect of the concerned authority, the ecology and the environment of the area is systematically damaged. Therefore, he prayed that a direction should be issued by the Court that after giving an opportunity of hearing to the concerned parties, the representations must be decided by the concerned authority.
A.K. Bisht, the counsel for the State, submitted that the State has no objection if such a direction were to be given by this Court to the concerned authority.
Therefore, the Court directed the District Magistrate, Tehri Garhwal, to consider the representations filed before him/her, and to give an opportunity of hearing to both the petitioner, and to the persons who have filed the said representations.
“In case the learned District Magistrate, Tehri Garhwal, finds that collateral damage is being caused to the environment because of the dumping of the extra material being excavated from the mountains, the competent authority is directed to take immediate action, and to remove the extra dumped material from the area,”
-the order reads.