NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling an ambitious plan to create a 1,400km long and 5km wide green belt from Gujarat to the Delhi-Haryana border, on the lines of the “Great Green Wall” running through the width of Africa, from Dakar (Senegal) to Djibouti, to combat climate change and desertification.
Though the idea is at a nascent stage, it has already generated a lot of excitement among officials in different ministries who believe that the project, if approved, may turn out to be a legacy programme in India’s efforts to deal with land degradation and the eastward march of the Thar desert.
They believe the idea of forming a green belt from Porbandar to Panipat will not only help in restoring degraded land through afforestation along the Aravali hill range that spans across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, but also act as a barrier for dust coming from the deserts in western India and Pakistan.