Govt to prepare digital maps of coastal belt

April 08, 2011 04:42 pm | Updated 04:42 pm IST - New Delhi

An overview of the Chennai coastline from a tall building near Adyar River Mouth (from MRC Nagar). A file photo: V. Ganesan.

An overview of the Chennai coastline from a tall building near Adyar River Mouth (from MRC Nagar). A file photo: V. Ganesan.

The government today signed an agreement to prepare digital maps of the country’s seven km wide coastal belt from Gujarat to West Bengal as part of its efforts to delineate the hazard line for coastal regions.

An agreement to map the 11,000 km coastline arc from Gujarat to West Bengal was signed between the Ministry of Environment and Forests and M/s IIC, Hyderabad in the presence of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Mr. Ramesh said Stereo Digital Aerial Photography (SDAP) technology will be used to map the coastline of the country.

This initiative is a critical part towards the planned management of the country’s coastal zone, he said.

The total cost involved for SDAP is Rs 27 crores and the project is backed by the World Bank.

For the purpose of SDAP, the Indian mainland coastline has been divided into eight blocks - from Indo-Pakistan border to Somnath in Gujarat; Somnath to Ulhas River in Maharashtra; Ulhas River to Sharavathi River in Karnataka; Sharavathi River to Cape Comorin in Tamil Nadu; Cape Comorin to Ponniyur River in Tamil Nadu; Ponniyur River to Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh; Krishna River to Chhatrapur in Orissa; and Chhatrapur to Indo-Bangladesh Border in West Bengal.

The SDAP will be completed within an estimated 15 months depending upon the weather.

Based on this, maps will be prepared in 1:10,000 scale and after ground verification, pillars will be erected demarcating the hazard line, an official release said.

The hazard line is a composite line of the shoreline changes including sea level rise due to climate change, tides and waves.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.