Lok Sabha Question No. 3161 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-18
Subject: Implementation of Green Highways Policy
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: Shri Avimanyu Sethi, Shri Chandra Prakash Choudhary

be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  targets  set  by  the  Government  for  using  recycled  materials, Construction  and  Demolition  waste  and  fly  ash  in  National  Highway (NH) projects in the financial year 2025-26 and the manner in which it is ensuring the structural integrity of these green highways;
- (b)  the  manner  in  which  the  Government  plans  to  speed  up  the implementation  of  the  green  highways  policy  including  mandatory roadside afforestation/tree plantation;
- (c)  the  details  of  third-party  audit  system  that  verifies  tree  survival rates along the NHs;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  has  finalised  guidelines  for  using  steel slag  in  major  pavement  works  for  the  said  region,  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (e) the manner in which the Ministry is coordinating with the Ministry of  Steel  and  the  steel  industries  to  ensure  continuous  supply  of  the material for the purpose?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3161 ANSWERED ON 18 TH  DECEMBER, 2025

## IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN HIGHWAYS POLICY

3161. SHRI AVIMANYU SETHI: SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री

- (a) The State-wise list of targets under National Highways Authority of India  (NHAI)  for  using  recycled  materials,  Construction  &  Demolition (C&D)  waste,  and  fly  ash  in  National  Highways  project  attached  in Annexure 1.

Based  on  international  best  practices  and  outcome  of  indigenous research  including  performance  evaluation  of  pilot  projects,  new standards/guidelines  are  framed  by  Indian  Roads  Congress  (IRC)  and existing standards/guidelines of IRC are amended from time to time to facilitate use of waste in highway construction.

- (b) As per the Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification  &  Maintenance)  Policy-2015  of  NHAI,  plantations  are carried out along available surplus median and roadside land of Right of  Way  (ROW).  Avenue  and  median  plantations  are  taken  up  as  per Annual  Plantation  Action  Plan  following  the  guidelines  and  species matrix according to agro-climatic zone of the project area in conformity  with  the  relevant  Indian  Road  Congress  Standard  (IRC: SP:21-2009).

The Green Highways Policy 2015 mandates the inclusion of greening component in detailed project reports and Concession Agreements of all highway projects.

NHAI  has  planted  524.68  Lakhs plants  on  National  Highways  after promulgation of Green Highways Policy -2015. The State-wise details of plantations along NHs are attached at Annexure-II.

Further,  to boost plantation activities in the field, campaign like   'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0' were organized starting from World Environment Day. So far 58.82 Lakhs saplings were planted by various agencies  of  the  Government  in  the  Ministry  of  Road  Transport  & Highways during the plantation year 2025-26.

- (c)  NHAI  has  empanelled  Technology  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  to analyze  the  drone  imagery  of  NHs  including  plantations  through  the AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning) inbuilt in their Drone Analytics Monitoring System (DAMS) for monitoring of the plantation activities including survival rates of saplings along National

Highways.  This  is  a  pilot  project  and  is  still  under  the  process  of improvement and development. Further,  NRSC  (National  Remote  Sensing  Centre),  Hyderabad  has undertaken  a  comprehensive  pan-India  estimation  of  green  cover (referred  as  Green  Cover  Index  (GCI))  for  plantation  along  National Highways using high resolution satellite imagery. In  addition,  regular  internal  monitoring  is  also  carried  out  through Independent  Engineers/authority  engineers  along  with  NHAI  field officers. (d)  The  Government has  issued policy guidelines  on use of processed urban  solid  waste,  plastic  waste,  steel  slag  and  other  industrial waste materials in construction of National Highway, vide circular no. RW/NH-33044/27/2024/S&R (P&B) (Computer No. 243038) dated 23.09.2024.

(e)  Quality  and  quantity  of  steel  slag  is  determined  on  basis  of availability in consultation with the steel plant.

ANNEXURE-I  REFERED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (A)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO. 3161 TO BE ANSWERED  ON  18TH DECEMBER, 2025 ASKED BY SHRI AVIMANYU SETHI & SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN HIGHWAYS POLICY.

| Sr. No.   | State            |   Construction& Demolition Waste (MT) | Recycled Materials (MT) = RAP+Plastics+Other Sutainable materials etc.   | Fly Ash (MT)   |
|-----------|------------------|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh   |                                   0   | 19052.39                                                                 | 8188764        |
| 2         | Assam            |                                   0   | 7008                                                                     | 0              |
| 3         | Bihar            |                                   0   | 465.93                                                                   | 9681302.64     |
| 4         | Chhattisgarh     |                                   0   | 12788.29                                                                 | 6754000        |
| 5         | Delhi            |                              400000   | 48784                                                                    | 0              |
| 6         | Gujarat          |                                9301   | 8065.08                                                                  | 118708.33      |
| 7         | Haryana          |                              315031   | 3,468.80                                                                 | 631720.99      |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh |                                   0   | 0                                                                        | 16302.07       |
| 9         | Jammu & Kashmir  |                              190000   | 76000                                                                    | 2500           |
| 10        | Jharkhand        |                                   0   | 105333.3                                                                 | 5187427.4      |
| 11        | Karnataka        |                                   0   | 6762.85                                                                  | 1328           |
| 12        | Kerala           |                               57600   | 148590.71                                                                | 12853.28       |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh   |                                 750   | 663,249                                                                  | 5959269.62     |
| 14        | Maharashtra      |                                8459   | 13788.96                                                                 | 371,852        |
| 15        | Odisha           |                                   0   | 8700                                                                     | 12000000       |
| 16        | Punjab           |                                   0   | 2862.47                                                                  | 4679632.027    |
| 17        | Rajasthan        |                                   0   | 1192.37                                                                  | 0              |
| 18        | Tamil Nadu       |                                3219   | 56961                                                                    | 1822918        |
| 19        | Telangana        |                                2090   | 35165                                                                    | 2650000        |
| 20        | Uttar Pradesh    |                               10638.6 | 82213.64                                                                 | 8873105.378    |
| 21        | Uttarakhand      |                                   0   | 2235                                                                     | 1683.18        |
| 22        | West Bengal      |                                2000   | 22514                                                                    | 3810000        |
|           | Total(MT)        |                              999088   | 1325200.7905                                                             | 70763366.915   |

ANNEXURE-II  REFERED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (B)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3161  TO  BE ANSWERED  ON  18TH DECEMBER, 2025 ASKED BY SHRI AVIMANYU SETHI & SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN HIGHWAYS POLICY.

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