From surveys of forests to agriculture and disaster management, the Centre plans to tap satellite technology to implement at least 110 government projects in the ecologically sensitive Northeastern region by 2024.
The government came to this decision as poor communication in the region and its ecological sensitivity was getting in the way of proper implementation of projects, official sources told DH.
The projects identified in the domains of agriculture, water resources, forestry and ecology, planning and development, UAV remote sensing and disaster management support. They would be implemented with joint funding from the Ministry of DONER, Department of Science and the state governments.
The North East Space Application Centre (NESAC) based in Shillong is co-ordinating the plan of action prepared by nodal departments of the eight states in the Northeast.
Set up in 2000, the NESAC is an autonomous institution under the Department of Space to provide space technology inputs and services for the development of the North Eastern region. NESAC is engaged in executing remote sensing application projects for natural resources management and infrastructure development, satellite communication-based applications in education, health and disaster management support, and training and capacity building in space technology and applications.
The NESAC has developed and achieved milestones in the implementation of North Eastern Spatial Data Repository, identification of potential areas for development of sericulture and horticulture, remote sensing based forest working plans and river atlas, geospatial system for monitoring projects, flood early warning system for Assam, satellite imaging-based settling of border disputes between states of the Northeast, said an official statement quoting union minister of state for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, on August 4.