India has a Road Network of over 4,689,842 kilometers in 2013, the second largest road network of the world among which National Highways constitute of 1.7% of total Road Network but they carry around 40% of traffic of Indian Roads.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the Nodal agency responsible for building, upgrading and maintaining most of the national highway network. It operates under the ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a major effort to expand and upgrade the network of Highways.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has formulated the new Green Highways (Plantation and Maintenance) Policy, 2015 after a series of reviews, which raised concerns about the poor quality and lack of maintenance of green cover along most national highways. In it the ministry has finalized a policy named ?Green Highways? to tree line 140000 kms of National Highways.
In this policy, one percent of total budget of new highway plans and new road networks should be set aside for development of tree lines in a planned manner.

According to officials of ministry, the glare and shine of the headlights of vehicles and winds direction is one of the reasons of road accidents especially on National Highways and freeways. It could be reduced by developing tree lines and making the highways more Eco friendly.
This scheme is expected to generate employment on a large scale, about half a million people. The government will create a pool of about thousand contractors with plantation experience and nurseries who will take charge of plantation work at local level. They will plant trees, make landscape good, lay grass turfs, lay ornamental shrubs & also take charge of its maintenance after implementation of its first phase of scheme. The policy aims to provide employment to the local people and will be implemented with the participation of the local communities, farmers, NGOs, private sector players, local self-government bodies and the forest department. It will be done under MNREGA scheme and credit will be given by government to poor farmers for buying tractors and other machinery.

Planting trees in a particular area will depend upon the local soil suitability, local environment and adoptivity of trees. Local varieties of plants like Alphonso mangoes in konkan and nilgiri areas, maldah mangoes in west Bengal and bihar. Turmurid can be planted in chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, local flowers will also be planted especially between the road lengths, like rose or depends on soil of the region. Planting fruit bearing trees specific to local environment and market can aid to revenue generation. Production of Green manure will also be of help to local farmers.
The implementation of this scheme will also result in rise of falling water level near Highway areas.

A variety of deciduous and evergreen species were planted during the spring of 2015, and the project is scheduled to continue through the spring of 2016. 140,000 km to be lined with trees.
The new green policy will pave for creation of employment as well as contribute towards the economic growth of the country.