Electronic sea charts developed

India would soon join the exclusive club of countries having electronic navigational charts (ENCs) for their entire sea waters. The ENCs, to be marketed worldwide soon, would pay special attention to its 7,500 kms long coastline,Rear Admiral KR Srinivasan, the Navy's chief hydrographer, said. Srinivasan is heading the Indian Naval Hydrographic Department (INHD).

"We are developing the ENCs for our entire sea waters as our navigational charts are considered the best in the world. India will now be among a very few countries having this capacity," he said, while adding that US and Britain have not developed its own ENCs for their entire sea waters.

"The ENCs are being designed to improve the safety and efficiency of the navigation," Srinivasan said.

The process of creating an electronic navigational chart data base has been completed at the Dehra Dun office, where the INHD was headquartered, he said. Requests were coming from several countries for carrying out surveys, he added.

Stating that the INHD was generating a revenue of Rs 5 crore every year, Srinivasan hoped the ENCs would fetch more money to the department. After acquiring eight ships in its kitty, the INHD will indigenously build four more vessels for the purpose of surveys in the next few years, he said.

Srinivasan also pointed out that Indian business activities were slowly shifting towards the coastal belt of the country.

The INHD in one of its studies has found out that multinational companies like Enron and Reliance were increasingly establishing their units along the coastal belt, and more MNCs were showing their interest in setting up along the coast.

This would trigger off a huge population boom in these areas, the report suggested.

"Our estimate suggests that there is going to be a 10 to 15 per cent increase in population along the coastal belt in the next 10 to 15 years," Srinivasan said.

Till now there is only 30 percent of the Indian population residing along the seashores. "It is going to be something between 40 to 45 per cent in the coming years," he said.