2 min learnNew DelhiMar 3, 2026 02:30 AM IST
BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi and former Union minister Karan Singh wrote to Cabinet ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Bhupender Yadav and Border Roads Organisation on Monday looking for cancellation of forest clearances granted to two key road widening stretches below Char Dham venture in the higher reaches of Ganga in Uttarakhand in mild of the rising catastrophe threat in the delicate area.
Additionally they demanded that ongoing and proposed works in the Bhagirathi Eco-Delicate Zone be assessed afresh and the road width in the Bhagirathi valley be restricted to 5.5 metres. This, they mentioned, must be completed in line 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, Okay N Govindacharya, former MP Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh and members of Himalayi Nagrik Drishti Manch, a citizen discussion board in Uttarakshi.
The senior politicians mentioned considerably quicker warming in the Himalayas is ensuing in 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 stress that the forest clearances accorded to fell 7,000 timber 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 Courtroom which granted conditional clearance to the Char Dham venture.
The leaders alleged that these clearances had been unlawful not solely as a result of they had been opposite to the Supreme Courtroom panel’s suggestions, but additionally as a result of they violated the “precautionary precept”. In regards to the Jhala-Jangla stretch, the letter acknowledged: “This forest stands on free particles and unstable geological materials, in the very space of the current Dharali catastrophe.”
The veteran leaders mentioned they’ve been assured on the highest ranges of the federal government that these considerations and pleadings are below lively consideration.
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