NEW DELHI: Maintaining that conservation of water by creating check dams across the country was a top priority, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the Centre was also mulling over a scheme to plant 200 crore trees along the entire one lakh km National Highways network to employ jobless youth.
Gadkari added that the availability of water through conservation mode would enhance farm productivity thrice, besides providing employment to about 50 lakh people and fighting the menace of poverty.
Inaugurating a two-day National workshop on Regeneration of Rivers, Gadkari underlined the need for small projects mainly on the wasteland by extensive use of technology. He said one lakh km of Highways would be constructed in the coming years and 200 crore trees planted along the roads.