Bhubaneswar, Sep 5 (IANS): The Odisha government has decided to take up green belt plantation along the saline embankments to protect the environment and sea-erosion off the Odisha coast.

The government would take up the green belt plantation along the saline embankments executed under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) in Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts, said an official of the water resources department on Saturday.

The official said that raising and strengthening saline embankments has been taken up by the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) with World Bank assistance.

"The green belt plantation shall be developed on the sea facing embankments to protect and enhance the environment as well as to act as a first-line of defence for the embankments against sea waves and wind," said water resources additional secretary P.K. Das in a letter to the forest and environment secretary.

Since Odisha is prone to cyclones, the government hopes that the green cover would help in mitigating such disasters.

Though a part of the coast line is naturally bestowed with mangrove plantation, especially in the Bhitarkanika sanctuary, a substantial stretch of the Odisha coastline has been bereft of a green checkmate following the 1999 super cyclone.

Such a threat from a cyclonic condition has already been felt by the state during the Phailin and Hudhud cyclones sans any green cover along the coastline.