Green Cover On Both Sides Of Highways Necessary To Curb Vehicular Pollution: NGT

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Environment to see to it that an effective monitoring mechanism exists while giving environmental clearance, to ensure compliance with regards to keeping the roadsides free from encroachments and that there should be plantation on the roadsides to ward off pollution.

This development comes after the NGT acknowledged that “green cover on both sides of highways is absolutely essential to mitigate the adverse impact of vehicular pollution on the highways.”

“We further direct that while granting Environmental Clearance, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) must ensure that an effective monitoring mechanism exists to ensure compliance of requisite safeguards including the plantations on the road sides and keeping such roadsides free from encroachments upto specified distance,” the NGT said.