National Green Highways Mission

National Green Highways Mission (NGHM), a plantation drive around 1500 km of National Highways, was launched in 2016. The objective of this mission was to provide a green canopy along 100,000 km of highways and create jobs for 1 million youth.

It has been initiated to engage corporates, Public Sector units, Government organizations and other institutions for developing green corridor along National Highways through plantation and allied activity on median, avenue and other available nearby land patches .

The funds for the mission will be met by Green Fund corpus which is 1 per cent of the total project cost set aside for plantation purposes

The afforestation across National Highways is expected to help in sequestering approximately 12 lakh metric ton carbon annually. It will also generate jobs and can be a game-changer for agriculture and rural economy. In future, the mission will be linked with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

Besides, the minister also launched ‘Adopt a Green Highway’ Program, ‘Kisan Harit Rajmarg Yojana’ and National Green Highways Mission Mobile App.

Kisan Harit Rajmarg Yojana: It is a pilot scheme to extend green belt beyond the existing ‘Right of Way’ of highways. It seeks to engage farmers and also provide alternative livelihood option to the nearby communities.