Haryana to upgrade steps for monitoring drought situation

The Haryana government has planned to use state-of-the-art techniques of remote sensing satellites to monitor drought in the state.

While disclosing this here, a spokesman of the state science and technology department said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed between the Hissar-based Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC), an autonomous body of the department, and the Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to monitor the drought situation at block levels.

The spokesperson said that under the MoU signed, the project would be taken up jointly by HARSAC and NRSC for three years. After three years, the technology would be transferred to HARSAC so that it could take up the project on an operational basis. The proposed system would be a major milestone in the drought management in the state, he added.

 

The spokesman said that Advance Wide Image Field Sensor data from the country’s resource satellite would be used to assess the drought situation. Various line departments of the state like the revenue and disaster management, agriculture and irrigation had agreed to provide detailed information on the extent and progress of sowing of the crops in the state.

By analysing and interpreting the satellite data, to be acquired at frequent intervals, HARSAC and NRSC will jointly prepare a monthly drought bulletin. This will help indicate the drought situation in each block of the state.

The bulletin would be circulated to all the line departments to help them take necessary contingency measures to save the crops in the block where agricultural drought had been indicated. The information would also be useful in irrigation scheduling and assessment of crop damage, among others, the spokesperson added.

He said that below normal or delayed monsoon during the kharif season and lack of rains during the winter had caused drought in the state, leading to reduced productivity of crops.