Satellite mapping of illegal structures first in Wadala

MUMBAI: The state government has recommended that the pilot project for satellite mapping of constructions be tested in Wadala, it informed the Bombay high court (HC) on Friday. The court had taken suo-motu cognisance of the difficulty faced by civic bodies in monitoring illegal constructions and expressed the need to use satellite-technology to map the same.

The know-how will be provided to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC) at Nagpur. Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni informed the court that requests for required satellite images will be sent by the BMC to the MRSAC, which will in turn obtain it from the National Remote Resources Centre in Hyderabad.

Civic officials will then crosscheck approved constructions with the satellite images to detect unauthorised constructions. The state said all planning authorities have been told to submit coordinates of project sites.

Kumbhakoni told the division bench of chief justice Naresh Patil and justice NM Jamdar that earlier, Mulund had been selected for the project, but old satellite images of the area were not available. The final decision rests with civic officials, senior advocate Anil Sakhare said.

At the same time, the state said that the technology would not be useful for monitoring constructions on plots smaller than 3,600 square metres. Kumbhakoni added that it might also be difficult to detect additions to already existing structures, as the satellite images cannot detect vertical construction.