SRINAGAR: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has implemented a range of satellite-based and space technology applications across Jammu and Kashmir, including landslide alerts, watershed monitoring, waterbody mapping, disaster management and decentralised planning, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to an unstarred question by MP Ghulam Ali that 12 operational communication satellites have coverage over Jammu and Kashmir. The capacity is made available to service providers to support and enhance telecommunication and broadband connectivity in the Union Territory.
Among the major initiatives is the Satellite Integrated Landslide Assessment and Alert System (SILAAS) under ISRO’s Disaster Management Support Programme, which is being used to map landslides and generate village-level alerts. ISRO has also undertaken landslide inventory mapping covering all districts of JK for the 2023 monsoon season.
Under the National Hydrology Project, an inventory of glacial lakes in JK has been prepared, while Glacial Lake Outburst Flood hazard and risk maps have been generated for Mundiksar lake in the Indus River basin.
Geospatial technologies are also being used to monitor Integrated Watershed Management Programme and Watershed Development Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY) 2.0 projects across 20 districts of JK. The districts covered include Anantnag, Bandipora, Baramulla, Budgam, Doda, Ganderbal, Jammu, Kathua, Kishtwar, Kulgam, Kupwara, Poonch, Pulwama, Rajouri, Ramban, Reasi, Samba, Shopian, Srinagar and Udhampur.
Under the Urban Waterbody Information System (UWaIS) linked to AMRUT 2.0, waterbodies have been mapped in Anantnag, Jammu and Srinagar. The Geo-MGNREGA Phase-II project is also being implemented across the same 20 districts for planning and monitoring MGNREGA activities.
The government said the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment project was undertaken with the University of Jammu, covering wetland inventory and district-wise assessment across JK. A separate project with the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, covered land degradation and vulnerability assessment in Kathua, Budgam and Udhampur and included preparation of an action plan for combating land degradation in a micro-watershed.
The Long Term Ecological Research Stations project, conducted from 2021 to 2025, has covered the North-West Himalaya, including JK, for climate and ecosystem response studies.
The Space Based Information Support for Decentralised Planning-Update (SISDP-U) project has covered all districts of JK, generating thematic information on land use, settlements, infrastructure and drainage using high-resolution satellite data.
Annual satellite-based assessments of land use and land cover at a scale of 1:2,50,000 have also been carried out for 2021-22 to 2024-25, along with a five-yearly assessment at 1:50,000 scale for 2020-21.
The government provided project-wise financial details in its reply. The ongoing land-cover and land-use project for 2025-28 has a sanctioned amount of Rs 75.78 lakh, of which Rs 30.31 lakh has been released and utilised by the Department of Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, Srinagar.
The SILAAS project for 2023-28 has a sanctioned allocation of Rs 50.16 lakh, with Rs 23.36 lakh released and utilised by the University of Jammu. The WDC-PMKSY 2.0 monitoring project for 2023-29 has a sanctioned amount of Rs 4.95 lakh, of which Rs 3.70 lakh has been released and utilised.
The SISDP-U project for 2019-24 had a total sanctioned, released and utilised amount of Rs 220 lakh, with the Directorate of Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing as the implementing agency. The IWMP watershed monitoring project for 2022-23 involved Rs 27.62 lakh, which was fully released and utilised by the University of Jammu.
The National Wetland Inventory and Assessment project had a sanctioned amount of Rs 11.43 lakh, of which Rs 5 lakh was released and utilised, while the desertification and land degradation project had Rs 5.91 lakh sanctioned, released and utilised.
Singh said ISRO was working on experimental landslide forecasting for all districts of JK under SILAAS. The organisation also conducts national and regional workshops and training programmes for disaster management agencies, including training on the National Database for Emergency Management, in which participants from JK have taken part.
For space education and research, ISRO has established the Satish Dhawan Centre for Space Science at the Central University of Jammu, providing faculty and research students access to ISRO facilities.
The government also said satellite-based tele-education is being facilitated under the PM e-Vidya programme, while telemedicine nodes have been installed in the Jammu and Kashmir regions. In 2024, the addition of the High Throughput Satellite GSAT-N2 further enhanced broadband connectivity, including in JK.
