The folks at NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) under the Green Highways Mission has announced a collaboration with Power Finance Corporation for plantation around highways. The latter has provided financial assistance of 13 crores for plantation and maintenance under their CSR funds. The project is being first executed on NH7 in the Nagpur region.
This is the first collaboration under Adopt a Green Highways programme. The best part is that the agencies have made sure at least 70 percent of the workforce from the local community. This further helps in increasing the livelihood opportunities.
If more PSUs or corporates can transfer their CSR funds towards greenifying highways, it can go a long way in making them an ecological asset. NHAI is at present in discussion with Coal India Ltd for other stretches. Apart from planting trees, the folks at the helm also intend to use eco-friendly material for building roads.
In fact, recently, NHAI even signed an accord with IIT Kharagpur to develop greener solutions for construction of national highways. Moving away from a history of bituminous asphalt, the authorities intend to use concrete blocks.
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A green cover on the highways can not only help in being a green cover for travellers to relax for a bit and also be the first line of defence against pollution. with the government taking renewed interest in making highways safer, greener and cleaner, the day is not far when our roads too will be praised the world over.
