Chamoli Glacier Burst: Several chronic landslide-prone locations exist on the three Char Dham highways.
New Delhi:
The Central government today told the Supreme Court that there was no connection between the massive ongoing Char Dham road-widening project and the glacier burst earlier this month that resulted in the death of a number of people in Uttarakhand.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, representing the Defence Ministry, today sought time to respond to an allegation by the chief of an expert committee appointed by the court drawing a link between the two. We received a letter from the Chairman of the High-Powered Panel saying there is a link between the road widening and the Uttarakhand disaster. But according to us, Defence Ministry, there is no such connection. We want to reply to the allegations and need time, he said.
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A file photo of the Supreme Court of India. | Sajjad Hussain/AFP
The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there was no link between the Char Dham road-widening project in Uttarakhand and the glacier disaster earlier this month in which over 50 people were killed,
The Hindu reported.
Attorney General KK Venugopal made the submission before a bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman. This happened four days after Ravi Chopra, the head of the Supreme Court-appointed committee monitoring the highway project in the ecologically-sensitive area, drew a connection between the two.
“We received a letter from the Chairman of the High-Powered Panel saying there is a link between the road widening and the Uttarakhand disaster,” Venugopal told the bench, according to NDTV. “But according to us, Defence Ministry, there is no such connection. We want to reply to the allegations and need time.” The Supreme Court, then, gave the Centre two weeks to file its