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On the occasion of 'Good Governance Day' in Gandhinagar, an MOU was signed under the chairmanship of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel between the Water Resources Department and SAC-ISRO.
The technical collaboration aims to enhance water resource development and management through the use of space technology, along with capacity building for department officials. Under the technical collaboration between the Water Resources Department and the Space Application Centre (SAC)-ISRO, several initiatives will be carried out, including the use of digital elevation models for water harvesting structures, mapping of the water resource-irrigation network, and irrigation management using high-resolution satellite imagery. Other tasks include seasonal crop coverage analysis, irrigation benchmarking, development of monitoring dashboards, hydrological modelling, river morphology studies, flood management, validation with geo-spatial and in-situ data, reservoir sedimentation analysis, groundwater level monitoring for conservation, and salinity ingress monitoring. Additionally, research projects in water resources will be undertaken, along with capacity-building training programs for department officials. The MoU for this collaboration will last for five years, with regional-level geospatial cells being set up in the Water Resources Department to carry out activities in various regions. The Water Resources Department of Gujarat is also focused on constructing new water conservation structures such as dams, barrages, weirs, and check dams, along with maintaining existing ones. Irrigation services cover an area of 32 lakh hectares through the canal systems of dams and other sources. The Space Application Centre-SAC, part of the Government of India's ISRO in Ahmedabad, is developing space technology-based applications for various fields. Additionally, proposed pilot studies will address waterlogging issues in the Ghed area (Saurashtra), salinity ingress in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, and water conservation and aquifer recharge in North Gujarat. The program held in Gandhinagar was attended by Minister for Forest and Environment Mulubhai Bera, Minister of State Mukesh Patel, Minister for Cooperation Jagdish Vishwakarma, Chief Secretary Raj Kumar, along with senior officials from the Water Resources Department and scientists from SAC-ISRO. (ANI)
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