Impact of Salinity Ingression Prevention Structures (Bandharas) on Different Landuse Categories in Abdasa Taluka of Kachchh Region, Gujarat-India

Abstract

Kachchh has a coastline of 406 km that faces various problems due to the salinity ingression and some developmental initiatives like ports, industries, etc. To check salinity ingression in the adjacent land of coastal areas, Government of Gujarat has taken some corrective measures in which construction of bandharas is one such attempt to prevent ingress of salinity along the coastal belt of Kachchh. For this activity, the government has invested over Rs. 200 crore and it would be crucial to understand the impact of these structures along the coastal belt. The said structures help in storage of surface water, prevent salinity ingression and also aid in ground water recharge. This enhanced water availability subsequently would change the land use and land cover (LULCC). Therefore, it was decided to assess the LULCC during pre- and post-bandhara scenario in Abdasa taluka using the satellite imageries (LISS-III) of 1997 and 2009. Total ten bandharas have been constructed in Abdasa taluka. Each bandhara has been classified into ten to twelve classes based on LULC pattern. The analysis of the imageries data indicates that there is a significant increase in the area of land use and land cover by agriculture, open land with grass/scrub, fallow land, Prosopis juliflora and inland water within 2 km radius of bandharas while saline land, coastal mud and wasteland area has decreased between the year 1997 and 2009.

Keywords: agriculture, bandhara, GIS, impact, land use, land cover