Once shot down by SC committee, contentious Netala bypass in fragile Bhagirathi zone gets forest clearance in Uttarakhand

The bypass, proposed between Hina and Tekhla on NH-34 in Uttarkashi district, falls in the fragile Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ), a 4,157 sq km expanse between Gangotri and Uttarkashi town. The BESZ was notified in 2012 to protect River Ganga’s ecology and watershed near its origin. The project involves diverting 17.5 hectares of forest land on the Dharasu–Gangotri route, requiring the felling of about 2,750 trees in untouched forests.

In 2020, the Supreme Court’s high-powered committee, headed by ecologist Ravi Chopra, had recommended dropping the same bypass on ecological and social grounds and instead widening the existing NH-34. The committee had reviewed the government’s 900-km Chardham project — meant to widen and improve highways connecting Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — and submitted detailed recommendations for all stretches.

“This bypass is recommended to be dropped because the geological infirmities on the existing alignment can be rectified and the local villagers, district administration and the MLA are not in favour,” the HPC had said in its recommendation to the Supreme Court. The geological infirmities HPC referred to in its 2020 report were landslide zones on the existing NH-34, which they opined could be treated.

As first reported by The Indian Express on July 29, 2024, initially the forest clearance nod for the project was sought by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The Ministry of Defence in September 2024 notified the stretch in question as important from a strategic and national security point of view. Consequently, in November 2024, MoEFCC directed the state government to process the proposal under the exemption clause and upload documents on its online portal Parivesh. The Divisional Forest Officer, Uttarkashi, forwarded the proposal to the state nodal authority in February this year.

“There is an exemption given under the Van (Sanrankshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam for strategic projects. The MoEFCC told us that it will fall under the state government’s purview,” said Ranjan Kumar Mishra, Chief Wildlife Warden and till recently Nodal Officer (Forest Conservation), Uttarakhand Forest Department.

When asked about concerns regarding the bypass, Raj Kishore, Superintending Engineer, Border Roads Organisation, 36 Border Roads Task Force, said: “We have received in principle approval, but a final call on the alignments would be taken by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways after a review.”

Soon after the Dharali disaster, members of the Supreme Court’s high-powered committee — geologist Navin Juyal and environmental campaigner Hemant Dhyani — urged the Ministry of Road Transport not to pursue the Chardham highway in its current form. They also called for dropping the Netala bypass. “Because the bypass is proposed through pristine forest that is grown on old landslide deposits which are incised by rainfed streams. If the road is dug through these deposits, it is likely to suffer from slope instability and subsidence because the road would also have to negotiate multiple streams. During the August 2025 flood, a large segment of the proposed bypass alignment slope collapsed into the river Bhagirathi,” they said.

Residents of Uttarkashi district, already protesting against fresh deforestation on the Gangotri stretch, demanded that the Netala bypass approval be scrapped and work on the Chardham project be halted. “Nearly three weeks after the Dharali disaster, a long stretch of road is still blocked on the Gangotri route. Fresh tree felling will give rise to new landslip zones,” said Nagendra Jaguri of Daang village, adding that any highway expansion must be in line with the HPC’s recommendations.

Members of the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (BESZ) monitoring committee had also opposed the bypass last year, asking the state government to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in line with the HPC’s recommendations.