The NH-701A highway is an ecological risk, Pg7

Key Highlights:

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a tender in October 2024 for the construction of the NH-701A highway, a two-lane road from Shopian to Magam in Jammu & Kashmir.
• The highway project raises concerns about its potential impact on fragile landscapes, high seismicity, unique biodiversity, and hydrological systems in the Kashmir Valley.
• In 2022, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) exempted highway projects within 100 km of the Line of Control from prior environmental clearance.
• NH-701A traverses forested areas and grazing lands, potentially disrupting the livelihoods of pastoralist communities like the Gujjars and Bakarwals, and impacting water quality due to erosion and landslides.

Detailed Insights:

• The NH-701A project effectively extends the Bafliaz-Poshiana-Peer Ki Gali-Shopian road, with the stretch connecting Bafliaz to NH-144A transferred to MoRTH in September 2024, raising questions about strategic motivations.
• While the EIA Notification of 2006 mandates environmental impact assessments for large-scale road projects, the 2022 exemption dilutes environmental scrutiny in ecologically vulnerable regions.
• Despite the EIA exemption, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued in 2023 require risk assessments, slope stability evaluations, eco-fragility studies, and geological surveys, but there is no public evidence of these being initiated for NH-701A.
• Construction on unstable slopes can lead to erosion, landslides, and sedimentation, degrading water quality and disrupting downstream flow regimes, exacerbated by climate change impacts on glaciers and mountain hydrology.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): A process to evaluate the environmental consequences of a proposed project or policy.
• Line of Control (LoC): The demarcation line between India and Pakistan in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Detailed Project Report (DPR): A comprehensive report outlining the plan, cost, and feasibility of a project.