Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat meets Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Saturday said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has assured him Centre's help in the construction of the Chardham Highway. "There were some issues related to the Chardham Expressway which begins from Rishikesh. There were some issues related to Rishikesh which we wanted to get sorted before the Kumbh in Haridwar, especially the construction of a ring road. The minister assured us that the Centre will support us in every way," he told reporters here.

Char Dham Highway is a proposed two-lane express National Highway in the state of Uttarakhand. The proposed highway will complement the proposed Char Dham Railway by connecting the four holy places in Uttarakhand states includes Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri The project includes 900 km national highways which will connect whole of Uttarakhand state. Rawat thanked Gadkari for being fully supportive from the start and said that almost 84% percent of the land had already been acquired but there were issues in some areas and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is also posing some problems in the timely completion of the project.

"Earlier too the government was fully behind us and thanks to that we have been able to acquire 84% land for the proposed highway. There are some hurdles in the way which are being posed by the NGT, Joshimath a small settlement is also against the construction but the minister has assured us their help," Rawat said. "We want the project to be complete before 2021," Rawat said.

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