Bengaluru: It’s a great achievement for the Uttar Pradesh government as it completes plan to construct 175 herbal roads.
 
It is interesting to note that, as reported by a popular website, more than 38,000 herbal and Ayurvedic plants of 30 species like Peepal, Neem, Tulsi, Giloy, Ashwagandha, Mentha, Lemon Grass, Bhringraj, Mui, Aonla, Brahmi, Tulsi, Anantmul, Gwarpath, Turmeric and other Ayurvedic and herbal plants have been planted alongside roads.

"While the Yogi government is effectively carrying out its battle against Covid-19 and has maintained the highest recovery rate (87 percent) in the country, it has also prepared itself to confront the challenges of the future," the website quoted PWD principal secretary, Nitin Gokaran as saying. 

Another important thing to note is that these plants will provide raw materials for the medicines and will also help in curbing the erosion of land.

This scheme is beneficial in two ways. One, it will help development and two, it will give a boost to beautification and also help improve biodiversity.

The scheme involves roads that are along national and state highways. These gardens will also keep air free from pollution, bacteria and will also keep other diseases at bay.

The PWD Department will also make arrangement for rain-water recharging system on these herbal roads.

A note on the roads covered: 

As many as 800kms of roads are covered under this project. 
Some of the major roads that have been turned into herbal roads include the Chandrika Devi-BKT Kumharanwa Marg, the Gorakhpur-Deoria bypass, Prayagraj-Mirzapur road, Agra-Achnera road, Aligarh-Sidharpur road, Kaptanganj-Maharajganj road, Panchkosi Marg in Ayodhya, Gonda-Bahraich road, Jhansi-Unnao road and Moradabad-Lucknow highway.

In 2016, an ISRO reported revealed that over 50% of the land in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi had been degraded.

The move had left several netizens excited. Many have said that this would go on to become yet another success story of the Modi 2.0 government.