JAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
  
  
REMOTE SENSING AND GIS IN THE MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF 
DRAINAGE PATTERN IN THE DROUGHT PRONE AREA. 
A CASE STUDY OF FEROZPUR JHIRKA BLOCK OF GURGAON DISTRICT 
? 
HARYANA 
Dilip Kumar and Ranjeet Kaur! 
Sr. GIS & Remote Sensing Executive 
M.L. Infomap Pvt, Ltd. 
C-4/4064, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. 110 070 
India 
! PhD. Research Scholar 
Jamia Millia Islamia 
New Delhi 
dilip. gis 9 mantraonline.com 
KEY WORDS: GIS, Remote sensing, Drainage, Morphometry, Drought. 
ABSTRACT: 
Remote sensing and GIS technique has being widely used in the sustainable development of the natural resources. Water is 
the one of the basic need of human being and it has been utilized with optimum level. The study of drainage pattern is 
essential for the proper planning and management of land and water resource and it has more effective in drought prone 
areas. Ferozpur Jhirka is one of the block, that is fall under the drought prone area and one of the block of Integrated 
Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD) Program. The basin characteristics has been analyzed in term of the 
morphometric parameters - stream length, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, stream frequency, texture ratio, elongation 
ratio, etc. Most of the drainage in the Aravalli slope originated on local hills and traverse through the village. The drainage 
along with their tributaries are ephemeral and carry water only for short duration during the monsoons and its following 
period. In normal condition, these streams carry little amount of water. So the surface water resource could be enhanced in 
the region by creating artificial recharge through effective planning and management. 
INTRODUCTION 
Geographic Information System, conjunction with remote 
sensing is useful in analyze and management of natural 
resources located in the realm of total natural environment. 
The technique is unique, time saving thus, very suitable 
for spatial planning. This concept of GIS is not new and 
geographers have long been using this approach manually 
in studying various geographic issues. But manual GIS 
have its own limitations. It cannot handle complex issues 
and large databases for manipulation and retrieval. The use 
of computer has made GIS automated and today the 
technique is not only capable of handling large data sets, 
but can also solve many complex issues besides 
facilitating retrieval and querying of data. 
The development of land and water resources on a 
sustained basis without deterioration and with constant 
increase in productivity is the main stay in the mankind. 
The watersheds or hydrologic units are considered more 
efficient and appropriate for necessary survey and 
investigations for the assessment of these resources and 
subsequent planning and implementation of various 
development programs like soil and water conservation, 
command area development, erosion control in catchments 
rivers, dry land/rainfed farming, reclamation of ravine 
lands, etc. The hydrologic units are equally important for 
the development of water resources through major, 
medium and minor storage projects as well as farm level 
524 
water harvesting structures. So the watershed approach is 
more rational because land and water resources have 
optimum interaction and synergetic effect when developed 
on the watershed basis. 
STUDY AREA 
Ferozpur Jhirka block of Gurgaon district of Haryana is 
selected and the extent of the study area is 76? 53' 89" to 
77° 08’ 29.77” E longitude and 27° 39° 08.24” to 27° 53’ 
54.36” N latitude, encompasses total geographical area is about 
323.898 sq. kms. Ferozpur Jhirka is a part of Mewat region, 
which is named after its main inhabitants of Meo 
community, is a distinct, ethnological and socio-cultural 
tract. Mewat is historically and culturally important but 
educationally and economically backward. The factor for 
backwardness of the region may be poor soil conditions, 
natural calamities, inadequate irrigation facilities and 
relatively low rate of literacy. The total population of this 
block according to 1991 census is 92,249 persons. The 
total literates are 17,865 persons. The population density is 
285 persons per sq. kms. 
Most of the study area is flat terrain. The altitude arrange from 
200 — 300 metres from above mean sea level (MSL). The slope 
is gentle toward north and north-east while it is moderately 
steep to very steep in the south-western part. Most of drainage 
in the area is seasonal and most of the area is dry. Due to 
Aravalli hills in the study area, the rock formation is very old,