NHAI Signs MoU With NRSC For "Green Cover Index" Of NH In India

NHAI signed a MoU with NRSC on 3 January 2024 to develop and report National Highways in India's “Green Cover Index”. This agreement has been signed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) with the National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) for three years.

• National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) functions under the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

About Green Highway Policy:

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) announced the ‘Green Highways Policy’ in September 2015. Following this, the National Green Highway Mission (NGHM) was started.
• The Green National Highway Corridors Project (GNHCP) supports implementing NGHM and providing green and safe transportation.
• The project also aims to showcase SAFE and GNHC in the states and expand the capacity of MORTH in the area of green and safe technologies.
• Greening of highway corridors has been a focus area of priority for MORTH and NHAI since 2015. At present, monitoring of plantations depends on on-site visits by field personnel. Subsequently, enhancing the data collection at the original location and plantation management and monitoring will be done by NRSC. NRSC will use high-resolution satellite imagery.
• This is referred to as the "green cover index". This innovative approach promises a robust and reliable system.
• It provides a cost-effective solution, saving time in estimating the density of greenery along National Highways. It will also facilitate targeted programs in areas that need more green cover.

About the National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC):

• It is one of the major centres of ISRO's Department of Space. The headquarters of NRSC is in Hyderabad. It is empowered to establish ground stations in the context of developing technologies for remote sensing applications, including geospatial services for good governance and receiving satellite data. NRSC has already conducted successful pilot projects to assess green cover along National Highways.
• The overarching effort of the project is to derive a sector-wise green cover index for National Highways in the first assessment cycle.
• After that, the focus will be on assessing the growth pattern of green cover for National Highways.

Benefits from region-wise green cover index:

• The index findings will facilitate comparison and ranking of different National Highways.
• So that timely and periodic interventions can be made.
• Green cover will be estimated for every 1 km length of National Highways.
• This will enable the generation of detailed measurement profiles even for individual projects/packages.
• This will enable assessment of the important role of NHAI in promoting green transformation of highways.