Union Minister Gadkari Launches Plantation Drive From Kothapalem, Renigunta

TIRUPATI: Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari launched a nationwide plantation drive from Kothapalem village in Renigunta mandal in this district on Wednesday. He initiated the planting of 1,000 saplings along the NH-71 from Renigunta to Naidupeta.

Gadkari said this initiative aligns with the Green India Mission (GIM) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims to convert national highways into environmentally sustainable green highways.

He pointed out the significant growth in the length of national highways over the past nine years. Adoption of bio-ethanol fuel is done to reduce pollution and lower the prices of petrol and diesel, he said.

Gadkari called upon the public to actively participate in the GIM, emphasising the NHAI’s commitment to environmental sustainability and pollution control initiatives. He said for every tree felled during road projects, two saplings will be planted to compensate for the loss. He also cited the success in relocating fully grown and large trees.

“Tree plantations simultaneously reduce carbon emissions and promote environmentally friendly infrastructure. We are also doing geo-tagging to monitor the progress and growth of these plants”, he said.

Gadkari said stress will be on planting local indigenous shrubs and trees on surplus land of roadside avenues and medians. The Green Highway policy-2015 promulgated by the roads ministry led to the planting of 3.46 crore saplings from 2016-17 to 2022-23 as part of the annual plantation action plan, he said.

Over 56 lakh saplings are proposed to be planted this year, starting from the monsoon season.

Gadkari later flagged off the electric fleet of Fresh Bus, an intercity EV bus service, at an event in Tirupati. This is already operational on the Bengaluru-Tirupati route and the plans are to expand the services to the Hyderabad-Vijayawada route later this month.

The minister inspected the first retrofitted electric bus at a programme here. A conventional BS-III Sapthagiri Express bus, belonging to APSRTC, has been converted into a retrofitted electric vehicle bus by Veera Vahana Udyog Ltd, a Bengaluru-based agency.

After concluding his programmes, the Union minister, accompanied by family members, proceeded to Tirumala. On his arrival at the Sri Venkateswara Nilayam Rest House, he was accorded a warm reception by TTD executive officer A.V. Dharma Reddy. After overnight stay there, he and the family would have darshan of Lord Venkateswara on Thursday morning.

State roads and buildings minister D. Raja, Tirupati MP M. Gurumurthy, Srikalahasti MLA Madhusudhan Reddy, roads and buildings secretary P.S. Pradyumna and other senior officials  were present.