Study of Land use compatibility using Remote sensing and GIS

Bhiwandi surrounding Notified Area (BSNA) Mumbai

Karamjeet Singh* and Deepti Singh

Punjab Remote sensing Centre, PAU Campus, Ludhiana, 141004, India

*E-mail: Kjeet12@gmail.com

Abstract: Land is the most important natural resource, which comprises soil, water and the associated flora and

fauna, thus involving the total ecosystem. Any country in the world is trying to achieve stable development.

Spatial planning is trying to organize the human and activity in environment in such a way that stable

development would be achieved in various contexts. The present study has been carried out to find the land use

compatibility after doing detailed land use analysis using remote sensing and GIS as well as potentials of

BSNA, near Mumbai. The population in BSNA has increased at a decadal growth rate of 44% during 1981-

1987. This resulted in a haphazard distribution of land use/land cover of BSNA. High resolution satellite data

(Quick Bird-61 cms) has been used to prepare the detailed land use/land cover of the study area. The study

shows that BSNA is randomly distributed with haphazard growth of urbanization for e.g. Slums which have a

poor living quality due to submerging between industries. Large amount of warehouses also generate

employment, attracting the population of different places for economic activities. Employment is an important

factor which is cause of population concentration and creating the problem of unauthorized residents and slums

in this area.

Key words: Remote Sensing, GIS, Spatial planning Land use compatibility

INTRODUCTION

Land is the most important natural resource,

which comprises soil, water and the associated flora

and fauna, thus involving the total ecosystem.

Knowledge of spatial distribution of land use, land

cover is essential for planning and management

activities. The term land cover describes type of

materials/features present on the surface of earth,

e.g., vegetation, rocks, buildings and highways,

while the expression land use relates to human

activity, i.e., how a land is used such as, for

agriculture, residence and industry.

Any country in the world is trying to

achieve stable development. Stable development may

be defined as “suitable and efficient utilizing from

natural, financial and human resources to achieve a

desirable consumption pattern and utilizing suitable

technical and organizational abilities which provide

current and future necessities ”(sadough2001).

Spatial planning is trying to organize the

human and activity in environment in such a way that

stable development would be achieved in various

contexts. Spatial Planning is defined as adjusting the

relationship between human, land and human

activities in the land in order to have a stable

utilization from all spatial and human possibilities to

improve material and moral situation of society along

the time (makhdoum1999).

Geographical Information System is an

important tool in development planning for two

principal reasons. Firstly, it is oriented to the spatial

component of development. This comprises the use

of the land for human settlements, the use of land

resources as in agriculture and forestry, and the

management and protection of the natural

environment. Second, GIS is not oriented solely to

geographic aspects of planning, but also to its

informational contents. It can also provide major

help in identifying trouble spots and in suggesting

possible actions. Land use mapping using survey

methods has been a lengthy and cumbersome

procedure which needs to be updated. The use of GIS

and Remote Sensing is helpful in time saving and

efficient land use mapping.

Introduction to Study Area

BSNA is Bhiwandi surrounding notified

area in Mumbai. Before the emergence of Mumbai,

Bhiwandi because of its strategic location, Bhiwandi

had been an important trading center. During Mughal

rule, Bhiwandi was known as Bhimbari.

Bhiwandi, is located in the east of Sahyadri

mountain ranges which belongs to the North Konkan

region of Maharashtra in the Konkan coastal

lowlands. The average elevation is 24 m above msl.

The Bhiwandi Surrounding Notified Area lies

between 19° 12' 07” N to 19° 21' 50” N latitude and

72° 59' 48” E to 73° 7' 50” E longitude. It forms a

part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

(Environment Status Report Bhiwandi, 2004-05).The

boundary of BSNA is marked by hills, ridges and

forests in the north, east and northwest. The Ulhas

River demarcates its southern boundary. Due to

natural hard and soft high-rise and low-lying features

in its surroundings, Bhiwandi has a saucer type of

topography. Due to natural water bodies like rivers

and creeks located in its vicinity, a major chunk of

land of Bhiwandi remains under swampy conditions

due to backlash of marine water and subsequent

inundation due to the presence of Thane creek,

Bassein creek and other minor inlets increasing the

landmass.

One of the development potentials of this

site is its nearness to District Thane and the

metropolis of Mumbai. It is located at 16 kms from

Thane and 10 kms from Kalyan. It is linked to Thane

and Mumbai through Bombay-Nasik National

Highway No.3, Vasai through Kalyan through

National Highway No. 222 and Vasai-Diva railway

line. Due to its nearness to Mumbai city and good

transportation network, the Godowns and

warehouses for storage goods for Mumbai market are

located here and the town is famous for both

handlooms and power looms. These factors have

been playing a major role in changing the

development scenario of the town. However, the

drainage of the area is poor due to its topographical

and geological conditions. Agriculture is also poor

due to presence of marine water and poor irrigation

facilities. The villages in BSNA have been neglected

because of poor transportation and communication

system.

Demographics

The population in BSNA has increased at a

decadal growth rate of 44% during 1981-1987. It has

further increase at a higher growth rate of 47.2%

during 1991-2001. The growing population of BSNA

may be attributed to natural growth, influence of

migration, increasing employ ability in the

warehousing sector and power loom industries in

BSNA and Bhiwandi city.

Table.1 indicates that the population in

BNSA has experienced a rising trend between 1981-

2001.

Table 1. Decadal growth rate of BSNA

The main objectives of study are:

To analyze the land use break down of

BSNA and find out the compatibility of different

land uses, using the remote sensing and GIS.

Identifying the major constraints and

potentials of different land uses of study area

adopting GIS techniques.

MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

Availability of high resolution satellite data

has provided an opportunity for the detailed study of

Bhiwandi Surrounding Notified Area for the year

2008. Georeferenced Quick-Bird data (multispectral)

of the year 2008 with spatial resolution of 60 cm was

used to interpret the land use/land cover of study the

area. The satellite data was procured from National

Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) Hyderabad in

digital form. All the ancillary data used with the

satellite data was registered with respect satellite

image.

After the theoretical framework the

georeferenced Quick Bird data of year 2008 having

61cm spatial resolution was used to interpret the land

use /land cover of study area. After the field survey

and verification of ground truthing the final map of

land use and land cover has been prepared with

relation to development pattern and layer of

structures are also prepared. On the bases of land use

map the compatibility of land uses are also analyzed.

The flowchart of entire methodology at

various stages is shown in Fig.1.

For final output, the land use of villages was

classified into 19 categories as shown in Table.2.

Table 2. Land use categories

S.No. Categories

1 Residential

2 Industrial

3 Commercial

4 Mixed-built-up

5 Warehouses

6 Public/semi-public

7 Electric sub stations

8 Elevated service reservoir

9 Water works & Treatment plants

10 Roads

11 New structures

12 Agricultural land

13 Forest

14 Wetland

15 Cultivable but barren land

16 Mining area

17 Brick kilns

18 Open spaces

19 Water bodies (Rivers, creeks, Island

lakes, ponds, wells)

Year Total Population Decadal growth rate

1981 79242 -

1991 114349 44.3%

2001 165633 47.2%

1st Stage

2nd

Stage

3rd

Stage

Georeferenced Quick-Bird Image

Necessary digital Image enhancements

Visual

Interpretation

Digital Vector

Layer Creation

On Screen Digitization

Editing, Attribute creation & database entry in Arc map

Potential and constraints of BSNA

Field data collection

Field check & refinement

Final Output maps of 2008 and findings

4th

Stage

Fig. 1. Flowchart of methodology

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Existing Land Use

The existing land use map of BSNA has been

prepared on the basis of satellite imageries with

0.61cm spatial and 11bit radiometric resolution. The

Quick Bird satellite imageries of March 02, 2008. are

used to obtain land use layers in Arc GIS software.

The detailed land use of BSNA is shown in

Table.3. BSNA comprises of 59 constituent villages.

The total area of BSNA computed on GIS platform is

144.89 Sq km. BSNA also includes the Census towns

which are part of the urban agglomeration.

It is evident from Table.3 that warehousing

is the dominant land use under built up category in

BSNA. The area under warehousing is about 5 per

cent of total area closely followed by the residential

use, which constitutes 3.6% area i.e. 525.68 hectares.

Fig.2 shows that the dominated land use i.e.

warehouses or godowns/storage are largely

concentrated in southwest portion of the area. The

area devoted to elevated service reservoirs is about

0.36 ha. Table.3 shows that area under mixed

category which includes residential, commercial and

industrial together accounts for about little less than

1 per cent of total BSNA.

The other uses include agricultural use,

marshy land, cultivable but barren land and forest

etc. The dominated land use category is agricultural

use which covers 8454 hectare which comprises

about 58 per cent of total BSNA.

Forest land constitutes about 1303 ha which

is about 9% of total area. The marshy land covers

about 7.6 per cent of total BSNA. It might be

attributed to the presence of several creeks, tidal

flats, mudflats and bars experiencing backlash under

the influence of spring tides and rivers resulting in

swampy conditions in adjacent lands. The map

shows that there are detached patches of mining area

observed in Mankoli and Ovali villages.

The area under mining sites is about 1 per

cent of total BSNA. Another interesting feature of

BSNA is large chunk of cultivable land (3.35 per

cent of total area) but is barren. This land could be

utilized for development purposes. The remote

Table.3. BSNA: Existing Land Use Distribution (2008)

S.No Land use Class Area (Ha) Percent to total

BSNA area

A Built-Up uses

1 Residential 525.68 3.63

2 Industrial 371.22 2.56

3 Commercial 82.77 0.57

4 Warehousing/Godowns 651.12 4.50

5 Mixed 118.08 0.82

6 Public/Semi -Public 26.94 0.19

7 Electric Sub-Stations 27.40 0.19

8 Elevated Service Reservoir 0.36 0.002

9 Water Works and Treatment Plants 36.50 0.25

10 Major Roads 75.54 0.52

11 New Structures 0.31 0.002

B Other uses

12 Agricultural Land 8454.15 58.38

13 Forest 1303.76 9.00

14 Marshy Land 1101.68 7.61

15 Cultivable But Barren Land 484.47 3.35

16 Mining Area 155.48 1.07

17 Brick Kilns 128.94 0.89

18 Water Bodies (Rivers, inland lakes, ponds, creeks, wells etc) 353.51 2.44

19 Open Spaces and Green Belt, Water Supply Pipelines and

railways 583.90

4.03

C Total Area 14489.85 100.00

sensing data also exhibits that brick kilns cover about

128 ha. Water bodies which include inland rivers,

lakes, ponds and wells etc. cover 353 ha land which

constitutes 2.44 per cent of total area. The open

spaces and green belt, water supply pipelines cover

about the 4% of the total area. The BSNA land

utilization pattern has a diverse composition in terms

of total development scenario.

Compatibility of Land Use

The compatibility of the land use is an

essential component for assessing the qualitative

aspect of land use. The existing land use of the area

shows that there are some land uses which are not

compatible with the surrounding land uses. Kalher,

Purne, and Rahanal villages have a mixing of

residential area with warehousing. Some residential

areas have mingled with industrial use creating

several problems to the residential area.

The foregoing analysis on land use indicates

that the BSNA has a distinct land use character as

compared to other areas. It has agricultural land,

marshy land, cultivable but barren land, quarrying

area, forest area, large concentration of

godowns/warehouses and industries etc. The

maximum use of land in BSNA is for agriculture

which constitutes about 58 per cent of total notified

area.

The area under forest cover is 9 per cent

which is closely followed by marshy land (7.61%).

The area under wetlands based on Coastal regulation

zone (CRZ) notification accounts for about one-fifth

of total notified area. It lowers the scope of future

growth and development in a large portion of 35

villages of BSNA.

The land covered under public/semi-public

amenities which include educational institutions,

health care facilities, post offices, banks, co-

operative societies, community halls, religious places

and cremation grounds etc. is very small (0.19%) as

compared to other activities in BSNA. The study

reveals that BSNA lacks in terms of higher

educational facilities both in general and technical.

There are only five educational institutes imparting

education at senior secondary (Junior College) level.

The existing water works located in some

parts of BSNA are not only catering to the population

of Bhiwandi city but also serving the population of

Mumbai and other surrounding areas. In all there are

four water works in four villages of BSNA. These

villages are Ovali. Pimplas, Vaghivali and Yavai.

There are four electric sub stations with different

capacity of electric load located in Kambe, Anjur,

Pimplas and Yavai villages. There is only one

Sewage Treatment Plant in the entire BSNA located

on the border of Katai and Khoni villages. The

Fig.2. Dominated land use i.e. warehouses or Godowns Warehouses/Godowns

Residential

Industrial

Warehousin

Water bodies

Marshy Land

CRZ

High Tide Line

Low Tide Line

National Highway

Major State Highway

State highway

Major district Roads

Village Roads

remaining area lacks in this kind of sewerage

treatment plants even in the wake of growing

industrialization and urbanization in the area.

The availability of large chunk of land

under cultivable but barren use is 3.35 per cent which

could be used for development purposes. The land

under quarrying is 1.07 per cent which needs to be

reclaimed, otherwise it would threaten the delicate

ecological cover of BSNA. The area under water

bodies is 2.44 per cent whereas the area under open

spaces and green belt which also includes water

supply pipelines and railways is about 4.03 per cent.

The compatibility analysis of existing land

use shows that there are some land uses which are

not compatible with the surrounding land use. Three

villages namely Kalher, Purne, and Rahanal have a

mixing of residential area with the warehousing.

Some residential areas have mingled with industrial

use creating several problems to the residential areas.

Also the land values in BSNA are not too

high and vary from 8000 to 9400 rupees per hectare

for industrial/warehousing purposes and rupees 9000

to 11300 per hectare for commercial activities.

The study brings out that area under

wetlands as per CRZ notification is 22.14 sq km

which comprises about one-fifth area of coastal

villages. The highest area under wetlands is

identified in Bharodi village which accounts the

about 90.00 per cent of total area of the village

followed by 71.78 per cent of total area in Alimghar

village. Dive village has about 65 per cent area under

wetlands. Kalher village has about 57 per cent area

under wetlands. 9 villages out of 35 villages, viz.,

Kalwar, Kasheli, Kashivali, Kopar, Rahanal,

Rajnagar, Sonale, Tambhavali and Vadghar covered

under Coastal Regulation Zone do not possess any

wetland. It is also notable here that details of CRZ

be duly considered while framing the planning

proposals for the development plan of the area.

Fig.3 shows that individual buildings are so

congested that it resulted in poor drainage quality of

the area.

The results of this study show that different

land use analysis objectives exist for different areas

in the study area. The relationship between land (soil

as an important land parameter) and land use can be

used to differentiate such areas. These areas can be

spatially depicted through application of GIS

techniques. The Bhiwandi area has a mixed land use

type comprising of Industrial, agricultural,

warehouses and mixed residential area including

slum areas.

Remote sensing and GIS techniques have

Fig. 3 Individual buildings of BSNA

been found very useful in finding the type of

land use even the individual buildings and residential

area merged in between the industrial area was well

delineated with high resolution satellite data (Quick

bird 61 cm).

The BSNA is randomly distributed with

haphazard growth of urbanization for e.g. Slums

which have a poor living quality due to submerging

between industries. If on one side these industries

give proper employment to the residents of

Bhiwandi, on the other hand these industries pose

serious life threatening problems like water pollution

and noise pollution in the area.

BSNA has a poor sanitary system due to which

flooding is a major serious treat to the area.

Residential land use comprises the 5.63 % of the area

which is in the form of small settlement along with

the roads, in old gaonthan of villages, and also spread

with the warehouses. Due to intense industrial

development there is immense concentration of

worker class. These worker classes residing in

scattered settlement with inappropriate infrastructure

facilities.

BSNA is already textile industrial hub and still

growing as centre of textile industries. Large amount

of warehouses also generate employment, attracting

the population of different places for economic

activities. Employment is an important factor which

is cause of population concentration and creating the

problem of unauthorized residents and slums in this

area. Some of residential usage are located in low

laying area (Pimplas, Pimpalner, Vehale, Sarang,

Alimghar, Kalher, Dive (Kevani) etc. have severe

problem of flooding during monsoon period.

The overall results shows that the BSNA has a

unplanned growth of population mixed with

industrial area due to which if on one side it gives

resources on the other hand also pose life threatening

problems

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