In Uttarakhand there is another very major infrastructure project, alongside the hydroelectric schemes that we so badly damaged on 7 February, that is also leading to substantial levels of loss.\u00a0 This is the Char Dham project, a road widening scheme of sufficient magnitude that it has its own Wikipedia entry<\/a>:<\/p>\n Char Dham National Highway\u00a0(Hindi:\u00a0\u091a\u093e\u0930 \u0927\u093e\u092e \u092e\u0939\u093e\u092e\u093e\u0930\u094d\u0917<\/b>), is an under construction two-lane (in each direction) express\u00a0National Highway\u00a0with a minimum width of 10 metres in the Indian state of\u00a0Uttarakhand. The under construction highway will complement the under-construction\u00a0Char Dham Railway\u00a0by connecting the four holy places in\u00a0Uttarakhand\u00a0states namely\u00a0Badrinath,\u00a0Kedarnath,\u00a0Gangotri\u00a0and\u00a0Yamunotri. The project includes 900 km\u00a0national highways\u00a0which will connect whole of\u00a0Uttarakhand state.<\/em><\/p>\n I am not against the development of infrastructure in high mountain areas, indeed quite the opposite, but these zones are fragile.\u00a0 These roads have the potential to be a vital lifeline, but they also have the potential to create untold havoc.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there are growing concerns about the latter, caused by poor alignment selection, engineering design and construction practise.\u00a0 In particular, there is clear evidence that the road widening is causing slope instability on a grand scale.\u00a0 Reports suggest that data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways<\/a> has indicated that there are at least 161 major slope failures along the alignment<\/a>, with more expected due to poor construction practises and the removal of trees.\u00a0 Bizarrely, a committee of the Supreme Court in India that has been investigating the project appears to be split, releasing two reports, one of which favours continuing with a 10 m wide road bench, the other indicating that it should be narrowed to 7 m<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is an interesting article on the environmental costs of the Char Dham project on the First Post website<\/a>, which includes this horrifying picture:<\/p>\n Landslides on the Char Dham highway. Image taken on NH94 by Mallika Bhanot, posted online by First Post<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n .<\/p>\n![\"Landslides](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2021\/03\/21_03-Char-Dham-1-scaled.jpg\")