The court had ordered the Centre to plant trees in “right earnest” to recover the green cover ‘devastated’ by construction. When the Centre had argued that the 2018 circular would apply only for future projects and not the Chardham, the court had reminded it that Chardham was still an ‘ongoing’ project. The Justice Nariman Bench had observed that the 2018 circular would indeed apply for Chardham considering the “current situation” of the fragile mountain terrain. “Till date no plan or approach to bring the Chardham Pariyojana roads in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order of September 8 has been submitted,” Mr. Chopra wrote to the court. He quoted news reports saying the MoRTH’s 2018 circular would be “applicable only to the proposed 13 projects where work had not yet begun”.

Source: The Hindu October 17, 2020 15:54 UTC