Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Gen (Retd) Dr V K Singh will today leave for a three-day visit to Uttarakhand to review the progress of Char Dham project.
He will be accompanied by CM Trivendra Singh Rawat. The Minister will review the progress of the Chardham project with project engineers and officials. Gen V K Singh will also conduct aerial survey of Narendra Nagar, Chamba, Chinyalisaur, Dharasu, Barkot, Jankichatti, and Uttarkashi areas, the statement said.
Char Dham National Highway (NH) connectivity programme launched by the Prime Minister in December 2016 comprises projects of improvement/development of 889 km length of NHs leading to Yamunotri Dham, Gangotri Dham, Kedarnath Dham, Badrinath Dham and part of route leading to Kailash Mansarovar yatra, it said.
The projects under Char Dham Programme include widening of existing roads along with adequate/sufficient slope protection by way of erection of retaining walls and breast walls and by deploying drapery system, netting, anchoring, reinforced wall etc., it added.
The projects include mitigation measures/stabilisation of chronic landslide & sinking spots/zones as stand-alone project or part of road widening projects to avoid land slide and safety of road users. Bio engineering methods like hydro seeding are being used for vegetative growth on fragile slopes for their stability. All these measures shall safeguard the highway and habitation against natural calamity, the statement said.