New Delhi, Nov 28: National Highway Authority of India has approved a pilot project on designing greenbelts along national highways. The project will be implemented on a 5 km stretch on NH-7 between Jam and Hinganghat in Nagpur region at an estimated cost of Rs.11.80 core.
Around 20,000 trees of scientifically chosen species are to be planted on both sides of this stretch in multiple rows.
The project will run for 5 years and during this period various experiments will be conducted in NEERI laboratory to record the impact of greenbelt development. Besides developing greenbelt, the project will also assist in developing relevant research infrastructure that may be used for similar studies in future.
Under the proposal, all the distances between trees/rows of trees will be maintained as per the guidelines of Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and rows of plantations adjoining highways will be flexible to take care of any accidents.
Notably, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) had decided to develop strategically designed green belt along highways with the help of National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur.
