Adding another feather to its cap, the geology department of Patna University (PU) has been assigned a project to study the geomorphic condition of various tributaries of the Ganga.

The department will study the geomorphic condition of the Gandak, the Ghaghra and the Sone, which meet the Ganga near Patna. While the Gandak and the Ghaghra originate from the Himalaya, the Sone originates from Chhattisgarh.

The project is part of an ambitious plan of the ministry of environment and forests for research programmes on the Ganga River Basin Management Plan. Moreover, the department, which was asked to complete the project in April 2012, has got a one-and-a-half year extension. Now, the department has to complete the project by September 2013.

Atul Aditya Pandey, a teacher of geology and one of the members of the project team said: “The report was to be submitted by April this year. But now the project deadline is September 2013. The project covers not only the Ganga but also its three tributaries.”

The new project is in addition to the existing one, which the department had received in August 2010 to study the geomorphic condition of the river system in different places. Seven IITs and several leading universities and institutions are participating in this programme.

The fluvial geomorphology team includes two scientists from PU, Ramesh Shukla and Atul Aditya Pandey of the geology department.

Pandey added that the major objectives of the fluvial geomorphology component of the project are to define the geomorphic condition of the river system in different reaches and to understand the ecology linkage for developing a sustainable river management programme. Fluvial Geomorphology is the study to monitor the development of landforms owing to courses of a river. It is the science of understanding rivers, both in their natural setting as well as how they respond to human-induced changes.

Pandey said: “The project is being done in different phases. Seven IITs, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Allahabad University, geology department of Patna University and the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta, have been chosen by the ministry of environment and forests for doing research in the first phase.”

PU’s task is to compile a geomorphic map of Ganga and classification of its reaches in terms of geomorphic condition from Varanasi to Munger. ISI, Calcutta, and IIT, Kharagpur, would prepare the map of the river stretch from Munger to Calcutta.