Roads need to be widened to carry missiles to Chinese border : Central Govt  justifies in Supreme Court

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New Delhi – Roads in the Chardham region of Uttarakhand need to be widened to transport missiles like BrahMos to the hilly Indo-China border, the Centre has said in a petition filed in the Supreme Court.

  1. The Government has said that the Indian Army wanted to station BrahMos missiles in the region. It would take up a lot of space. If there is a landslide during that time, the Army would tackle it, but if the roads were not wide enough, how would the Army reach the border ?
  2. The Government justified during a hearing on a petition filed by an NGO, Citizens of Green Doon, against the Central Government’s plan to widen the Chardham highway to 10 metres. Deforestation for improving the infrastructure could lead to large-scale landslides and other environmental disasters, the NGO said.
  3. The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that roads in dangerous terrains should not be more than 5.5 meters wide due to the risk of landslides.