NHAI`s First Annual Report on National Highways – Green Cover Index
9th March 2026
With the objective to provide a quantitative assessment of the plantations along the National Highways, NHAI has released the first-of-its-kind Annual Report on the National Highways Green Cover Index (NH-GCI) 2025–26
Under India’s 2015 Green Highways Policy, NHAI must not only plant trees along highway corridors but also ensure their survival. Traditionally, plantation health has been monitored by field teams
To scale this, NHAI partnered with Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO’s) National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to develop a satellite-based Green Cover Index (GCI) for all National Highways
The initiative aims to provide a scientific and quantitative assessment of green cover within the Right of Way (RoW) along the National Highways network by leveraging advanced space-based technologies
The assessment is derived from chlorophyll content detected through high-resolution satellite sensors, enabling an objective, technology-driven measure of vegetation presence along the left and right sides of the highways. NH-GCI is reported as a percentage value that represents the proportion of land covered by green cover within the RoW of National Highways at a granularity of one kilometre
In this first assessment cycle, approximately 30,000 km of National Highways spanning 24 States have been covered for the period July–December 2024. Subsequent annual cycles will track year-on-year changes to monitor progressive improvements in green cover
The initiative has been taken under a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that NHAI signed in January 2024 with the NRSC, Indian Space Research Organisation. This innovative approach offers a robust, reliable, cost-effective, and time-efficient mechanism for macro-level estimation of the green cover along the National Highways. The findings will enable comparison, ranking, and targeted interventions for improved plantation management
The NH-GCI initiative reflects NHAI’s strong commitment to enhancing environmental sustainability and advancing the green transformation of the National Highway network
Following table shows the state-wise segregation of no. of projects evaluated; their length; and respective LHS, RHS and Avenue GCI as cumulative values
