GUWAHATI: For the first time, the Assam Government will use remote sensing technology to tackle the problem of erosion in the State. Continuous erosion triggered by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries has been gobbling up huge chunks of land in upper Assam districts, rendering thousands of people homeless and disturbing the fragile ecosystem in the region. Assam Remote Sensing Application Centre (ARSAC) has initiated a project to map the “bank-line migration” of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries which are believed to be primary reasons behind the menace of erosion that has affected at least ten districts of the State. An official said that satellite imageries would help firm up strategies to prevent erosion and would provide an estimate of the areas likely to be hit in the years to come. The areas, which are worst affected due to soil erosion and need to be mapped urgently are Dibrugarh, Polashbari, Lakhimpur, Dhokhuakhana and Kaziranga. In these areas, the cohesive force of the soil is low as a result of which they are easily carried away. Estimated to cost Rs 20 lakhs, the satellite data would be provided by the Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and expected to be completed by next year. “Soil erosion is now a burning problem of the State. The main objective of the project is to map as well as monitor the chronically and historically eroded areas,” said a senior ARSAC scientist Pankaj Prakash Deka and added the ARSAC had earlier undertaken a similar mapping project but it was restricted to Brahmaputra’s tributaries. Remote sensing refers to the technology of acquiring information about the earth’s surface and atmosphere using sensors onboard airborne or space borne platforms. Usually satellites are utilized to gather remote sensing data since it is cheaper and faster. The main reason for shifting of bank line by the Brahmaputra is the huge deposition of silt carried from upstream of the river which causes a huge impact on the natural flow of water and this causes erosion in bank line on both sides of the river. In addition, man made activities like construction of bridges also contribute to the problem in downstream regions. “The project will help in detecting soil erosion areas easily. Moreover, Central Water Commission (CWC) wants satellite images of the year to year basis position of the river,” an assistant engineer of the department, Nayanjyoti Goswami said, adding, “This project will also help to propose certain schemes to the Centre to control bank line migration.” The data to be provided by NRSA would be multi-data high resolution imageries which can be stored, edited, analyzed and made to display geographic information for decision making.