National highways in the State will soon become greener thanks to a Green Roadway project that was launched on Saturday.
Pon. Radhakrishnan, minister of State for road transport, highways and shipping, inaugurated the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project at a function near Tambaram.
The minister called upon elected representatives and the public to lend a helping hand to NHAI. He also asked the officials concerned to ensure proper watering and maintenance of the saplings.
The saplings were planted along the 670-km-long national highway from Chennai to Kanyakumari where, during four-laning of the stretch, 31,667 trees were cut.
Though saplings in the ratio of 3:1 have been planted, more saplings will be planted wherever land is available.
V. Chinna Reddy, NHAI chief general manager (technical), said as part of the project, a total of 50,000 saplings will be planted. By March 2015, 5,000 saplings that provide shade and have root systems that do not spread too wide will be planted.
Watering and maintenance of the six-feet-tall saplings will be done by the respective concessionaires.
Tamilisai Soundararajan, State president of Bharatiya Janata Party, was also present on the occasion.
