Application of R.S. and G.I.S. in selecting habitable site in central Himalayas, India
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Sharma, S.
1CARMAN RESIDENTIAL AND DAY SCHOOL Email: sks105@rediffmail.com
Abstract
Despite India’s extensive development achievements in the last more than five decades since independence, the fact remains that it is still remains on the poorest nations in the world in terms of per capita income and energy consumption. The per capita energy consumption which indicates the economic status of a nation, is only 0.25 tons of oil equivalent (toe) as against nearly 8.5 toe of developed nations. If the economic standard of the country is to be raised , an accelerated growth of economy becomes imperative which can greatly be facilitated through increased availability of energy, be it a conventional or non conventional source of energy. Fortunately, India has vast unexploited hydropower estimated at about 84000 MW, the harnessing of which is expected to meet the domestic demand of ever growing population on one hand and relieve the country from heavy burden of foreign exchange outflow and dependence on imported fuel for generating electricity on the other hand. It is in this context that a 260m high Large Tehri Dam on one of the tributaries of the river Ganges in Central Himalayan Region is coming up very fast for the economic benefits of the local people of North India and the country at large to deliver 2000 MW electricity when completed in few months from now. But these economic benefits to the country are full of miseries to the local residents comprising nearly hundred villages around Tehri Dam as their only source of livelihood the “irrigation land” is submerged under its vast water reservoir. On an average, nearly 50,000 local village habitants are rendered homeless. In order to mitigate the environmental and socio-economic stresses of the upstream people whose lives have been drastically affected, if not made to migrate to nearby safer places, the Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) data is used to find the alternate site for their rehabilitation with special reference to the availability of water. The spatial data base created through the RS information is converted into computer readable form using the GIS for analyzing the geographically referenced desets of spatial and non-spatial origin. The recently acquired satellite images on 1 : 50,000 scale have been used to prepare thematic maps depicting the vegetation, soil cover, geomorphological features, drainage pattern and water shed areas which helped when integrated with the Intergraph GIS system, in distinguishing the localities, in an otherwise, difficult and unapproachable terrain, suitable for variety of plantation / activities of economic value where the upstream people can be made to migrate without impairing or imbalancing ecosystem.
Keywords
Central Himalayas; Spatial Database; Thematic Maps