Char dham roads to be constructed by BRO

Char Dham roads damaged extensively in the mid-June deluge in Uttarakhand last year will be constructed and maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), official sources said here today.

The state government's proposal in this regard got the Centre's nod yesterday after it expressed its inability to accomplish the task with limited resources at its disposal, they said.

The likelihood of construction of some of these roads by the state's Public Works Department had emerged recently.

However, at a meeting with Union Cabinet Secretary Ajeet Seth and BRO DG Lt Gen A T Parnaik yesterday Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar argued that the state government was not in a position to undertake construction work on Char Dham roads owing to limited resources available with the PWD.

Kumar demanded that that repair and reconstruction of Char Dham roads be undertaken by the BRO and the Cabinet Committee on Uttarakhand gave its agreement to the proposal appreciating the special circumstances of the hill state which was hit by a calamity of catastrophic proportions in mid-June last year, the sources said.

However, a final decision in this regard will be taken at a meeting to be held in New Delhi on February 3, they said.

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna during his last meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought release of Rs 300 crore to the BRO for road construction work around the Char Dhams ahead of the yatra season beginning in April-May.

The multi-purpose Lakhwad hydel project has also been given final clearance by the Ministry of Forest and Environment, they said, adding that work on the much-awaited project is now likely to begin next month.

The 300 MW project will benefit several states including neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh,

The multi-purpose project estimated to come up at a cost of Rs 3966.51 crore will generate 612.93 million units of power, irrigate 33780 hectares of land and supply78.83 MCM of potable water.