LAND TRANSFORMATION AROUND CHANDIGARH: A STUDY OF EASTERN PERIPHERY USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNOLOGY

Chandigarh being the capital of two states of Punjab and Haryana is developing as an Educational, Industrial and Administrative hub in the region. Chandigarh being planned of approximately five lack persons initially has attracted large scale in migration from the surrounding areas. At present more than million people live within the administrative boundaries of the city. This continuous increasing pressure of population and demands for infrastructure and services has transformed the rural areas in the periphery of the city. In the last one and a half decade the periphery of Chandigarh is under constant attack from the illegal construction and slum population. All these activities have transformed the land use and land cover of the periphery of the city, transforming the rural and vacant lands into the urban and built-up land. The present study is an attempt to trance the changes in the land use and land cover of the periphery and to understand the process of land transformation around the planned city of Chandigarh using remote sensing and GIS technologies.