In future, a drive along state highways and other major district roads may be a cool and refreshing experience. The government plans to line up trees along 15,000 km, covering all major state highways, besides arterial district and taluk roads.
The department of rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) is behind this verdant dream.
“We are in the process of identifying roads to plant saplings and have sought reports from districts. Once that is done, we will launch the programme, possibly by next monsoon,’’ said Munish Moudgil, director, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA), Karnataka.
This new scheme comes after the PWD and forest department locked horns over the issue three years ago, when hundreds of trees were felled along the highways, in the name of road-widening. According to a forest department report, over 3 lakh roadside plantations had to be removed over the last decade due to widening of roads and highways. This, obviously, led to a rise in pollution.
Moudgil said the trees will be planted with help from MNREGA workers in dense rows to minimize pollution and save crops from wind. SN Girish, a green activist, said the afforestation scheme will not only help reduce air pollution but also act as windbreakers and protect farms.
Many hope the drive, like several others, won’t be in paper only. In the past too, the forest department launched a number of such programmes, but the attempts didn’t bear fruit. But there is a rider in the new scheme: Gram sabhas will get funds depending on the number of saplings alive.
The department of rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) is behind this verdant dream.
“We are in the process of identifying roads to plant saplings and have sought reports from districts. Once that is done, we will launch the programme, possibly by next monsoon,’’ said Munish Moudgil, director, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA), Karnataka.
This new scheme comes after the PWD and forest department locked horns over the issue three years ago, when hundreds of trees were felled along the highways, in the name of road-widening. According to a forest department report, over 3 lakh roadside plantations had to be removed over the last decade due to widening of roads and highways. This, obviously, led to a rise in pollution.
Moudgil said the trees will be planted with help from MNREGA workers in dense rows to minimize pollution and save crops from wind. SN Girish, a green activist, said the afforestation scheme will not only help reduce air pollution but also act as windbreakers and protect farms.
Many hope the drive, like several others, won’t be in paper only. In the past too, the forest department launched a number of such programmes, but the attempts didn’t bear fruit. But there is a rider in the new scheme: Gram sabhas will get funds depending on the number of saplings alive.
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