Spatio–Temporal Dynamics of Land Use/Cover around a Thermal Power Plant in Singrauli District, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Land is becoming a scarce resource due to population growth and industrialization. Rapid growth of human activities can also be attributed as one of the reasons. Thus, it becomes an important task to regulate land resource for sustainable development and environmental protection. Land use/cover (LULC) change studies have become a central component in current strategies for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes. The present study the land use/cover and its pattern was studied for the Sasan Ultra mega thermal power plant covering an area of 10 km 2 for three years (2005, 2010 and 2015) respectively. Chronologically, the year 2005 is the phase of pre-establishment of the thermal power plant; the year 2010 specifies the construction phase and 2015 is the operational phase. Landsat ETM and Landsat 8 data of remote sensing system were used for the study. The land use/cover (LULC) study showed a significant decrease in forest cover, while vegetation and wasteland expanded dramatically. Simultaneously, there is a decrease in Barren rocky land from 2005 to 2015.