Setting
up of Natural Resources Digital Database Center at Jalpaiguri, West Bengal and
Creation of an Integrated Database for Developmental Planning
Thematic Area:
District level digital database
for developmental planning
Location:
Ø Jalpaiguri
District, West Bengal, India
Ø Latitude : 26016’N - 2700’N
Ø Longitude: 8804’E- 89053’E
Objective:
Ø To
interact with District authorities and assess their perception of the problem
of planning for sustainable development at district and grass root level and assess
the prospect of improvement in planning process through application of digital
technology.
Ø To design
appropriate digital data structure, procure and install computer hardware and
software system and set up a state-of- art NRDMS Centre.
Ø To train
personnel for adoption of digital technology.
Ø To
develop a digital database on natural resources and hazards. Tertiary
objectives in this case include the following:
·
To identify and quantify the availability of major abiotic
resources e.g. land, surface water, groundwater, soil, industrial rocks, ores,
surficial deposits and biotic resources e.g. forests, grass lands, biosphere
reserves etc.
·
To create a digital terrain model (DTM) and a digital
elevation model (DEM) through integrated application of GIS-GPS-RS technologies.
·
To create a digital data base on natural hazards and their
distribution pattern in space-time
·
To prepare thematic maps on land cover, landuse and
environmental hot spots.
Ø To create
a digital data base on the state of environment. Tertiary objectives in this
case include the following:
·
To characterize the quality of
air, water and soil in terms of their major chemical traits, document the
pollution level and the pattern of its variation in space-time
·
To generate spatial data base on
source of pollution and its dispersal pattern
·
To discriminate the natural and
man made environmental hot spots and indicate them on the spatial matrix.
·
To identify the endangered species of flora and fauna
and indicate their distribution pattern in the digital map.
Ø To
analyze the multivariate data base and integrate them with the spatial matrix
using GIS technology.
Abstract:
The theme
of the project is to build up capacity for developmental planning at Jalpaiguri
district through application of modern science and technology. It is designed
to provide the district-based planners and implementing agencies sensitive
tools and techniques for rapid information retrieval, analysis and integration
of multiple data sets in the district matrix. This will hopefully help them in arriving at informed
planning decisions through optimisation exercises based on convergence of
traditional geographical knowledge and data obtained through application of
modern technology of geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing (RS)
and global positioning system (GPS). Three basic targets are conceived (a) setting up of a natural resources
digital data centre (NRDDC) at Jalpaiguri which will serve as the central hub
for digital data processing at district level, (b) creation of digital database
and (c) training of personnel to own and operate the centre in an effective
manner after completion of the project. The main focuses are further
expanded below:
Ø
Documentation and
appraisal of natural resources and natural hazards
Ø Documentation and analysis of the present
status of utilisation of natural resources
along with identification of constraints and scope of exploitation of
untapped resources
Ø
Analysis of the problems of
resource depletion and environmental/ ecological degradation
Ø Documentation
and analysis of demographic and socio-economic scenario, generation of human
development index, analysis of man - environment equations and assessment of
the quality of life.
Ø Training
of personnel at district level for adoption of the new technology.
Data used:
Ø The
administrative layer data (District, State International & National
Boundary), Base layer (River, Canal, Lakes, Road and Rail), Mouza boundaries
were collected from the Department of Science & Technology, West Bengal.
Ø The
layers were superimposed on IRS-1D LISS-III (December 2001 and March-2002) and
IRS-1D PAN (August 2002) satellite imagery.
Ø The data
used were collected from different line departments: Data on ground water
quality, location of deep location of Deep tube wells and Shallow tube wells
from SWID, data on Canals and Crops from Agricultural Department, data on
animal Husbandry from Animal Husbandry Dept, information on health from Health
Dept., data on Literacy from Statistical department and data on irrigation from
irrigation department. The data from Fisheries, Wild Life, Social Forestry,
Bank etc are being collected.
Highlights/Findings:
Ø Geographic
database of Rajganj, Sadar, Mal and Nagrakata blocks of the district have been
upgraded on the basis of satellite imagery.
Ø The theme
maps consist of Rivers, Roads, Rail, Flood Plane, Valley fill, Forest, Tea
Garden etc.
Output:
The administrative layers have been
superimposed on the satellite imagery of the district. The base layer is ready
for GIS input and analysis. LISS-III data have been merged with PAN data to
generate maps of blocks on 1:12,500 scale (Figure1, Figure2, and Figure3).
Date of Project completion:
31.03.2004 (Expected)
Project Investigator:
Mr.
Bikash C. Poddar,
Hony.
Secretary, Center for Study of Man & Environmet,
Parivesh
Kendra, CK-11, Sector-2,
Salt
Lake, Kolkata-700 091.
E-Mail -
csme@vsnl.net
Phone - (033) 23210861, 23590781
