MoRTH launches plantation drive on 1,500 km of national highways

The MoRTH has launched an initial plantation drive on 1,500 km of national highways at a cost of about Rs 3 billion, under the National Green Highways Mission (NGHM). Under the mission’s Green Highways Project, the government has made it mandatory to set aside 1 per cent of the total project cost of any national highway contract to a green fund corpus that will be used for plantation purposes. The ministry has also released the guidelines for implementation, the vision document and knowledge reports for the project. The guidelines document developed by the NGHM is in compliance with the directives of the Green Highways Policy (GHP), 2015 issued by the MoRTH. The document incorporates the recommendations of the GHP and acts as a comprehensive roadside plantation and management manual. The vision document of the NGHM will define the approach taken for planning, implementation and monitoring of the Green Highways Project. The vision document, comprising the strategy, mission and action plan for 2016-26, focuses on core issues, future roadmaps and success indicators for effective implementation of the project.