Centre raises queries on Charmadi Ghat NH 73 widening: 7,540 trees, 15.66 hectares and 45 past landslides

Charmadi Ghat is the quiet one of the three big Mangaluru side climbs. Shiradi carries the trucks, Sampaje carries the Kodagu traffic, and Charmadi carries riders who want a narrow, dripping, tree-covered road up into Chikkamagaluru. That road is now the subject of a clearance fight in Delhi.

The proposal is to widen an 11.2 km stretch of NH 73, from Charmadi village on the Dakshina Kannada side up to the Chikkamagaluru district border, between km 75.00 and km 86.20. Daijiworld reported on 28 October that the project is costed at ₹343.74 crore and needs about 39 acres of forest land. Green Minute, which has been reading the PARIVESH filings, puts the diversion at 15.66 hectares of reserve forest and the felling at 7,540 trees across 52 species, including 853 trees with a girth above 120 cm. Compensatory afforestation is proposed on 18 hectares at Ganguru village in Shivamogga district.

What the Centre has asked

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's regional office raised queries on 8 and 9 October 2026, 11 in all. Green Minute's reading of the file lists the subjects: landslide risk on the terrain, wildlife movement through the Kudremukh to Pushpagiri tiger corridor, thin documentation on compensatory afforestation, and plain discrepancies in the forest area figures, which appear as both 15.1758 hectares and 15.6617 hectares in different places. A PARIVESH EDS history generated on 18 October showed those queries had not been replied to at that point.

The landslide question is the one that matters to anyone who uses the road. The file refers to a Geological Survey of India study that documented 45 landslides linked to earlier road construction in this area, and advised against vertical cut slopes. The National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping marks significant parts of this NH 73 stretch as landslide prone. K T Chandrashekar, executive engineer of the National Highways Department in Dakshina Kannada, told Daijiworld that clarifications and supplementary information have been sought and that replies are being prepared.

Why riders should follow this file

The approvals have moved fast on the state side. A site inspection was done on 22 June 2026. Karnataka's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force recommended in-principle Stage-I approval on 10 September, and the State Chief Secretary recommended it on 23 September. Wildlife clearance, per NewsKarnataka's report of 22 September, had not been initiated at that stage and no detailed wildlife mitigation plan had been submitted.

Conservationist Vivek M, quoted by Green Minute, accepts the premise and questions the method. He said improving road safety on the Charmadi Ghat is a legitimate public interest, while asking whether the proposed solution is necessary and proportionate to its ecological cost. He has also warned that if later phases towards Mudigere are treated as separate packages, more forest diversion follows.

For a rider planning a Ghats run, two practical points. First, if Stage-I clearance comes through, expect tree felling, slope cutting and single lane working on an 11.2 km stretch that already closes after heavy rain, so build a Shiradi or Sampaje fallback into any Mangaluru to Chikkamagaluru plan. Second, watch the GSI finding on cut slopes. The 45 landslides already recorded here came from road work, not from nothing, and a wider road cut into the same hillsides is the thing the Centre is asking questions about.

Sources

• Centre questions Charmadi Ghat widening over 7,540 trees, 39 acres of forest land, Daijiworld, 28 October 2026
• Centre questions NH-73 widening for felling of 7,540 trees, landslide risks, Green Minute, 23 October 2026
• NH-73 widening: a doomsday project for landslide-prone Charmadi Ghats in Karnataka, Green Minute, 24 September 2026
• 7,540 trees proposed to be felled for NH 73 widening in Charmadi Ghat, NewsKarnataka, 22 September 2026