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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
LAND RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN USING REMOTE SENSING AND 
GIS: À CASE STUDY IN GHAGGAR WATERSHED. 
Arya, V. S.*, Hooda, R. S°., Rao, T. B. V. M*, Chaudhry, B. S*.,Sultan Singh?®, Prasad, J°. 
Tiwari, A. K°., Kudrat, M°., Pramod Kumar®, Ravindran, K. V°. and 
Manchanda, M. L?. 
a Haryana State Remote Sensing Application Centre, CCS H.A.U Campus, Hisar, Haryana. Fax. 01662-25958 Ph. 01662-32632 
b Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing Campus, Dehradun, Utranchal. 
KEY WORDS : Watershed, Remote sensing, Ground truth, Integration, Action Plan 
ABSTRACT : 
In today's dynamic situation, accurate, meaningful, current data on land resources are essential. For preparing a sound and feasible 
planning for natural resources on sustainable basis, it is preferable to treat the watershed as a single unit, especially for soil and 
water conservation. IRS LISS11 FCC (False Colour Composite) and digital data of different seasons were used for the 
study. Various thematic maps like slope, soils, landuse/landcover, geomorphology, geology, forest etc. were generated with 
sufficient ground truth varification. A site specific action plan was generated after integrating all these themes in the watershed area. 
INTRODUCTION 
Over exploitation of natural resources by the burgeoning 
population has resulted into fast degradation of fertile lands and 
depletion of water resources. The cultivable area of the country 
is estimated to be 186 m ha. Cultivated area at the end of 1993- 
94 was about 142 m ha. Indications are that because of pressure 
on land due to increasing population, it may not be possible to 
increase the cultivated land and it will be stabilized at 140-145 
m ha. . Out of total cultivable area of 140-145 m ha, gross 
irrigated area will be about 150- 160 m ha, area under 
watershed management about 10 -15 m ha and area to be 
protected from soil erosion about 30-35 m ha by 2050 (anonym, 
2000). This incessant problem has made it imperative to apply 
the latest innovation of remote sensing technology for quick 
appraisal and inventory of existing and potential natural 
resources. Remote sensing is now universally recognized as a 
highly effective and versatile tool for surveillance and 
management of land and water resources. Watershed, being a 
compact natural unit, has its own characteristic features and 
problems related to land and water resources. In order to obtain 
maximum benefit out of these resources with minimum 
hazards, it is preferable to treat the watershed as a single unit, 
especially for soil and water conservation, flood management, 
prevention and control of siltation and sedimentation, proper 
landuse and increase of land productivity. The present study 
involves preparation of various thematic maps such as landuse, 
soils, geology, hydrogeomorphology, etc. It aims at 
interpretation, identification, classification, mapping and 
analytical studies of watershed characteristics to integrate all 
these aspects for better management of the watershed. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA 
The watershed forms a part of the Dangri catchment, a 
tributary of Ghaggar river. The study area covers a total of 
9588 ha. and lies between 30°35' to 30°43'N latitude and 
77°00'E to 77°08'E longitudes The annual average rainfall in 
665 
this area is about 780 mm. Nearly 81 per cent of the annual 
normal rainfall is received during monsoon season and about 11 
per cent during winter. The drainage of the watershed varies 
from dendritic to sub-dendritic and at some places sub-parallel 
also. Above 650 meter elevation, sub-tropical forests viz. chir ( 
Pinus roxburgii), chhall, khair and shingan etc. are found. The 
tropical type of vegetation such as sisham, kikar, eucalyptus 
etc. are mainly found in foot hills and plains. 
MATERIALS AND METHOD 
IRS-IB LISS II FCC (False Colour Composite using bands 
2,3,4) geocoded on 1:50,000 scale of June 14, 1992, October 
25, 1992 and January 8, 1994 (Three season data) and IRS-IB 
CCT of June 2, 1993, Oct. 12, and Jan. 8,1994 of Path-30 and 
Row-46. Using standard image characteristics such as tone, 
texture, pattern, shape, size, location and association, etc. the 
visual interpretation of the imagery was carried out. Various 
thematic maps such as soil, slope, geology and 
hydrogeomorphology, etc. were prepared visually. Landuse 
map was prepared by digital classification of satellite data 
(CCT) using a hybrid classifier which included a mix of 
unsupervised and supervised classification. The digital data 
were geometrically corrected for pixel to pixel superimposition 
and geo-referencing.The data were submitted for natural 
grouping of spectral properties of the pixels. The resultant 
image was regrouped depicting classes of interest. Finaly the 
landuse statistics and photo-write compatable tape of the 
aggregated classified output were generated for the study area. 
The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) image of 
the data was also generated. The NDVI is the index of the 
vigour and intensity of the biomass. 
The DEM for the Watershed was generated using the digitized 
contour information. Various thematic maps were checked and 
verified in the field by conducting ground survey. The ground 
details were incorporated while preparing the final maps. The 
land resources development plan was developed based on 
integrated study of land use, soils, geomorphology, ground 
water and socio-economic data.