Context
- Recently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) announced the winners of the Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026 to promote sustainable plantation and landscaping practices along National Highways.
About Green Highways Excellence Awards
- The Green Highways Excellence Awards were instituted in 2025 by NHAI.
- The awards were instituted as mandated under the Green Highways Policy, 2015.
- The initiative focuses on promoting healthy plantation practices and sustainable landscaping along National Highways.
- It seeks to balance infrastructure development with environmental sustainability.
- The awards were given under three categories:
- Avenue Plantations
- Median Plantations
- Plantation in Land Parcels
Award Categories & 1st Rank Winners
- Category I (Avenue Plantations): Six-Laning of Chilakaluripet Bypass on NH-16 (Andhra Pradesh, RO-Vijayawada).
- Category II (Median Plantations): Four-Laning of Hyderabad–Yadgiri Section of NH-163 (Telangana, RO-Hyderabad).
- Category III (Plantation in Land Parcels – Clover Leaves, Interchanges, Toll Plazas): Jamtha Clover Leaf, Oxygen Bird Park on NH-44 (Maharashtra, RO-Nagpur).
About National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
- NHAI is a statutory authority established under the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988.
- It functions under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).
- Its primary role is the development, maintenance and management of National Highways entrusted to it.
- NHAI plays an important role in implementing India’s National Highway development programmes and promoting sustainable highway infrastructure.
Some Important National Highways
| I. NH-44 | Srinagar to KanyakumariIndia’s longest National Highway.Passes through 11 states and union territories. |
| II. NH-16 | Kolkata to Chennai.Part of the Golden Quadrilateral project.Important cities include Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. |
| III. NH-31 | Unnao region to Gazole |
| IV. NH-925 | It is a key strategic highway in Rajasthan, India, notable for featuring India’s first emergency landing facility on a national highway for the Indian Air Force. |
Conclusion
The Green Highways Excellence Awards highlight the growing emphasis on integrating environmental sustainability with infrastructure development. By promoting native species, plantation survival and data-based monitoring, NHAI seeks to make India’s expanding highway network more ecologically sustainable and climate-responsive.
| Important CTC from this article: Green Highways Policy, 2015 |