Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh asked the officials concerned to complete all the formalities of the construction of the roads leading to Char Dham by September 4. He gave this instruction while convening a meeting with the officials of National Highway Authority (NHA) through video conferencing in the secretariat on Tuesday.
He said this is an utmost priority of the state government. He warned the district magistrates concerned against being apathetic on the matter.
Chief Secretary stressed that the process of land acquisition, forest clearance, forest right axe (FRA) must be completed by the deadline while informing that Rs 5000 crore will be spent for the up-gradation of 889 kilometer long road of Char Dham.
The meeting was apprised that the ministry of road and highways is supposed to execute the widening and up-gradation work of the Char Dham roads.
It was stated in the meeting that 225 out of 889 kilometer roads falls in Tehri district under which Rishikesh-Rudraprayag and Rishikesh-Dharasu band will be constructed.
The land acquisition process for Rishikesh bypass is in its final stage. However, the forest clearance for the stretch between Muni-ki-reti and Kirtinagar is yet to be received. Besides, the landslide treatment in Saknidhar’s FRA is yet to be issued.
A safety wall is supposed to be constructed in Deoprayag. Besides, the road building work for 21.62 km in Pauri district, for 110.33 km in Rudrapryag district, 144 km for Chamoli district, 102.50 km for Uttarkashi district, 88 km for Champawat district, 31 km for Pithoragarh district and 1.527 km for Dehradun district are in the final stage.
MoRTH OP Srivastava disclosed that to shift building, pipeline and poles, the ministry has approved Rs 74 crore. Competent Authority for land Acquisition has been given human resources, vehicles and others to expedite the process.
He further said that Rs 5000 crore is proposed to be spent in the up-gradation and road widening work of Char Dham.
The meeting was attended among others by additional chief secretary S Ramaswami, PCCF Mahajan, secretary PWD DS Garbyal, member secretary Pollution Control Board Vinod Singhal, additional secretary forest Meenakshi Joshi and project director Char Dham Yatra route Pankaj Mourya.