The Survey of India will soon embark on a project to "re-measure" the height of Mount Everest following doubts expressed by a section of scientific community about the world's highest peak shrinking, after the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal nearly two years ago.
The project, for which required sanctions have been obtained, would help the future scientific studies as well, Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao said here today.
"We are sending an expedition to Mount Everest. Everest's height was declared, if I remember correctly, in 1855. Many others also measured it. But the height given by Survey of India, even today, is taken as the correct height. It is 29,028 ft," he said.
"We are re-measuring it. It is almost two years since the major Nepal earthquake. After that, there is a doubt in the scientific community that it is shrinking. That is one of the reasons. Second reason is, it helps in scientific studies, plate movements etc," he said.
All the necessary approvals have been obtained for the expedition and the effort should begin in a month, he said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Geospatial World Forum.
"I have got all the approvals. MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) also done. If the Surveyor General of Nepal has come here (for the conference in Hyderabad), I will have a meeting with him. As I see it, we plan to send (the expedition team) in two months," he said.
The endeavour would take about a month for observation and another 15 days for computation and declaration of data, Subba Rao added.
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