A 900km, all-weather road has been Priority No. 1 for the BJP government in Uttarakhand for several months now. The road is being built to enhance connectivity to the Char Dhams of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri in the Garhwal Himalayas. It is a pet project of PM Modi, who laid its foundation stone in December 2016. Since then, he has been personally monitoring the work through video-conferencing and, at a recent session, also asked officials to give him real-time live updates on the work through cameras mounted on drones.

The chief secretary of Uttarakhand, who was overseeing the road and reconstruction projects in Kedarnath until Modi’s last visit to the shrine in October 2017, was shunted out almost immediately after the Prime Minister returned to Delhi. Apparently, the work was not going fast enough. The new incumbent, believed to have been handpicked by the PM himself, made a beeline for Kedarnath a day after he joined to oversee the work, following it up with a repeat visit within a fortnight.

So why is Modi in such a hurry to complete the road? The buzz is that he wants to launch the BJP’s 2019 poll campaign from Kedarnath. Evidently, there are electoral brownie points to be had by claiming credit for a highway which links four major Hindu shrines.

However, it may well turn out to be disastrous for the Himalayas. Some people are comparing it to the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train link, both being seen as unviable ‘vanity projects’.

There are a number of issues concerning the all-weather road but environmental and geological concerns are foremost. Around 43,000 trees, as per state government estimates, are expected to be felled to build this Himalayan highway — of which more than half have already been cut. The National Green Tribunal recently put a halt on any further felling following a petition filed by environmental groups, which claimed that proper clearances were not obtained before removing such a large chunk of green cover. However, much of the damage has already been done as the mountains have been denuded, increasing the threat of landslides manifold. Also, the debris generated from the construction has been arbitrarily dumped into Himalayan rivers which could disturb their natural course and might cause damage on the scale of the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy. For those who have travelled in the area recently, it is evident that the seismically active Garhwal Himalayas have been badly shaken up by the construction activity that has ensued to make way for the 15 big bridges, 101 small bridges, 3,596 culverts and 12 bypasses that are part of the highway.

Meanwhile, the government of CM Trivendra Singh Rawat talks of vikas. It insists that the project is being built using state-of-the-art technology, and will improve accessibility, boost the local economy and bring development to the hills.

That’s debatable. To begin with, the pilgrim destinations which are to be connected are snow-bound and closed for almost six months of the year. How viable then is it to spend crores on an ‘all-weather road’? Yes, accessibility will improve but it will also dilute the spirit of the pilgrimage. It’s already happening, with ‘package tourists’ coming for ‘one-night, two-day’ stays. The economy of these shrine towns is set to change character as the highway reduces travel time and encourages ‘holiday makers’ rather than pilgrims.

In addition, there are worries that the compensation given to villagers in lieu of land for the project will prompt more migration — Uttarakhand already has more than 1,000 ghost villages — as families use the money to seek a better life in cities. This will only add to the pressure on cities like Dehradun which are already bursting at the seams.

At the moment, many locals are paying a heavy cost for the project. Sometime back, there were mounting protests in Guptkashi near Kedarnath where the dwellings of around 400 families are going to be partly or completely demolished for widening the road. This will affect livelihoods as most residents operate hotels, lodges or shops from their homes, catering to pilgrims during the yatra season.

One argument is that the highway will help the Army as the areas lie near the border. But the Army’s Border Roads Organisation under its Project Shivalik already does a stellar job of ensuring the roads used by the Army in the area are well-maintained.

There are several areas in Uttarakhand which are crying out for the funds that the government is pumping into the highway. Hundreds of villages are without road or electricity, and healthcare is in shambles. If the Prime Minister really wants to do something of Himalayan proportions for the state, he should first address these problems on priority.