Noted historian Shekhar Pathak has expressed concern at the nature of developmental works like construction of all-weather road and the governmental push for increasing number of people visiting Kedarnath. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a summit organised at FRI, Pathak said that privatisation of natural resources and unnecessary construction works in the name of development are causing major damage to the environmentally senstive Himalayan region in Uttarakhand. At this rate, the state will face a major water crisis in the future. He said,"In no mountainous country around the world are roads so broad as are being made here as part of the all-weather road project. Even in places like Switzerland the roads are basically double-lane. Instead of widening roads so much we should rather focus on traffic regulation especially as the use of dynamite and major destruction involved in widening roads to such an extent has seriously detrimental impacts on various factors like water availability and disaster vulnerability.
Further, places like Kedarnath are not meant for a large number of people at the same time. By encouraging maximisation of visitors to Kedarnath, we will be inviting undesirable impacts," he said.