Centre plans to deploy AI to improve rural drainage infrastructure
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : The Centre plans to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to analysze satellite imagery, local surveys, and real-time data to address civic issues such as drainage, waterlogging and waste management in rural areas, Panchayati Raj secretary Vivek Bharadwaj told Mint. The initiative aims to help panchayats map drainage networks, identify flood-prone areas, and prioritize maintenance work more efficiently.
Bharadwaj said a pilot has already been conducted in seven villages in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi—the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi—with plans to eventually cover 255,000 gram panchayats across the country to improve planning, reduce response times and ensure better use of funds. Karnataka-based Deepmatrix Pvt. Ltd conducted the PoC.
Bharadwaj said the startup was provided with high-resolution geospatial and hydrometeorological datasets, including drone-based point-cloud data collected under the SVAMITVA scheme for terrain and elevation modelling, orthomosaic imagery for accurate surface-feature interpretation, and rainfall data to assess precipitation patterns. The Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) Scheme provides legal ownership of rural residential land through precise mapping and issuance of property cards. According to officials, drone surveys covering 315,000 villages out of the targeted 346,000 have generated a vast volume of high-quality, high-resolution data.
Read on livemint.com