- The Supreme Court has cleared the Chardham highway project.The court has also asked the Environment Ministry to form the high-powered committee to look into environmental concerns.
- The committee shall consider the cumulative and independent impact of the Chardham project on the entire Himalayan valleys.
- The Char Dham highway development project is an initiative to improve connectivity to the Char Dham pilgrimage centres in the Himalayas namely Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.
- The project proposes the widening of single lane roads into double lanes by up to 10 metres,developing highways in Uttarakhand and thereby improving access to the Char Dham.
- These four ancient pilgrimages sites in Uttarakhand are known as Chota Char Dham to differentiate them from the bigger circuit of modern day Char Dham sites namely Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram.
