NMCG launches 3D mapping of Ganga from Ballia to Farakka
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has commissioned a full aerial LiDAR survey and 3D mapping of the Ganga River corridor from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh to Farakka in West Bengal, covering four States and using advanced geospatial technologies to build a ‘3D digital twin’ of the river and its drainage network.
The initiative, launched under the Namami Gange programme of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, will cover stretches of the river flowing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The official social media handle of Namami Gange said on Friday, “From Ballia to Farakka, the Ganga is about to be mapped in a way she has never been mapped before.”
The mission further said the project will deploy aerial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for 3D terrain scanning, manned aircraft for wide corridor coverage, UAVs or drones for close-range precision, photogrammetry for ultra-high-resolution imagery, and geotagged videography.
The mapping exercise aims to identify and digitally document drain outfalls, confluence points and floodplains along the river corridor.
“Manned aircraft, drones, geotagged videography, photogrammetry, every tool in the modern geospatial kit, working in tandem to build a 3D digital twin of the river and her drainage network,” the post said.
The data generated through the exercise will include 3D LiDAR point clouds of the river corridor, orthorectified aerial imagery, annotated aerial drainage videos, and geotagged drain and confluence datasets.
Explaining the rationale behind the exercise, the post said, “For decades, river management in India has run on outdated maps and ground-level guesswork. Drains shift. Floodplains creep. Confluences silt over. The river simply changes faster than the paperwork ever could.”
It said the project will help authorities precisely map drains and confluences, identify pollution hotspots, improve wastewater interception planning and create three-dimensional floodplain models for better monsoon preparedness.
“This project rewrites that foundation. Once the datasets land, every drain and confluence gets pinpointed. Pollution hotspots get flagged before they go viral. Wastewater interception is planned with engineering accuracy, not estimation. Floodplains are modelled for the monsoon ahead, not the one behind. And riverfront infrastructure is finally designed to work with the river, not against her,” the post added.
The mission described the project as a foundational shift in river management.
“You cannot heal what you have not measured. With this, we measure,” the post said of Ganga from Ballia to Farakka.
