India has launched an initial plantation drive on 1,500km of national highways (NH) at a cost of about Rs3bn ($44.5m) under the Green Highways Project in New Delhi.

According to government estimates the launch of the plantation drive will employ 15,000 people.

Under the Green Highways Project, the government has made it mandatory to set aside 1% of the total project cost of any NH contract to a Green Fund corpus, which will be used for plantation purpose.

"This move is expected to help in sequestering approximately 1.2 million metric tonnes of carbon annually."

This move is expected to help in sequestering approximately 1.2 million metric tonnes of carbon annually.

The government also unveiled guidelines for implementation, vision document and the knowledge reports of the project at the workshop event organised by the National Green Highways Mission.

National Green Highways Mission (NGHM) developed the guidelines document, which is in compliance with the directives of Green Highways Policy (GHP) 2015 issued by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

The NGHM vision document features strategy, mission and an action plan for 2016-2026; it focuses on core issues; future roadmaps and success indicators for effective implementation of Green Highways Project.

NGHM-Yes Bank Knowledge Report on ‘Transplanting for Growth’ presents a compelling case for taking up transplantation as the preferred mode for plantation along the highways.