Army requires widened roads in Chardham highway project, govt tells SC

01 Nov 2021 CW Team

On Friday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that its plea asking recall of an earlier order of the court is heard on an urgent basis as the Army requires widened roads in the Chardham highway project, which goes up to the China border because of the difficulties faced there.

The strategic 900-km Chardham highway project plans to render all-weather connectivity to four holy towns -- Kedarnath, Gangotri, Badrinath and Yamunotri -- in Uttarakhand.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and D Y Chandrachud was notified by Attorney General K K Venugopal that the Ministry of Defence has registered an application asking for the recall of an earlier order.

They want that application to be heard urgently. Army requires a widening of the border roads in the northern sector because of the issues there, Venugopal said, adding that the court had earlier said the width should not be over 5.5 metres.

The bench ordered the registry to ask for instruction from the Chief Justice of India and register the issue before the appropriate bench along with other petitions.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO Citizens for Green Doon' asking for order to prevent the felling of trees without approvals on the Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A), which is a part of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway.

The SC noted that once the forest approval is provided, there is no need for separate clearance for tree felling.

Advocate Ritwik Dutta, appearing for the NGO, said that the NGT has said that permission is needed from the competent authority for tree felling, and in this case, there is no such approval.

The SC said that the matter would be scheduled post-Diwali break before the appropriate bench.

Image Source

Also read: Road projects of 255 km length underway in Ladakh

Infrastructure Urban

07 May 2026

BASF to Open Global Service Hub in Hyderabad

BASF’s Global Business Services will open a new Global Service Hub in Hyderabad in the second quarter of 2026. The hub will operate under BASF Global Business Services Private Limited and support the company’s global service delivery network, with a focus on integrated Finance and HR services.Hyderabad was selected after a structured evaluation process, including on-site assessments across multiple locations. BASF said the city offers the right ecosystem and talent base to support scalable, high-quality services for its global businesses. The hub will progressively build operations over th..

Festo Launches AI Assistant for Engineers

Festo has introduced an AI-powered Virtual Assistant to help automation engineers and maintenance teams access technical answers quickly and minimise downtime. The online tool is designed specifically for industrial automation applications and provides context-related responses in seconds, helping users move faster from fault identification to resolution.Unlike general AI systems, the Virtual Assistant works only on verified Festo data sources, including datasheets, manuals, technical documents and engineering tools. It supports fault diagnosis, component selection, technical standards, produc..

CivilGEO Software Wins G2 Recognition Again

CivilGEO has announced that its flagship products, GeoHECRAS, GeoSTORM and GeoHECHMS, have been ranked among the top civil engineering design software products in G2’s 2026 Best Software Awards. This marks the third consecutive year that the company has received this recognition.In the G2 rankings, GeoHECRAS secured first position, GeoSTORM ranked second and GeoHECHMS placed third in the civil engineering design software category. The rankings are based on verified user reviews, customer satisfaction scores and market presence data. G2’s annual awards recognise fewer than 1 per cent of ove..