The project has been assigned to geology and botany departments of the MSU by ISRO.

Professor Nikhil Desai, the head of the university’s geology department, said, “MSU is one of the five research institutes across India which have been assigned this project by ISRO. Besides, coral reefs are found in only three regions of the country: The Gulf of Kutch, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands.”

He said, “This is the second phase of the project. The first phase of the project on mangroves’ land use and land-cover and sea level rise in Gujarat was done by Marine Biological Association of India and it received S Jones Memorial Award during February.

However, MSU syndicate members who met for the first time after syndicate elections did not give its sanction to the funds for the project.

Nikhil Desai, a senate member said, “The matter is already taken to the varsity authorities and will be resolved.” Prof Ramesh Goyal, MSU Vice-Chancellor said that the project failed to submit some technical details.

Dharmendra Shah, a lecturer from the university’s botany department, said, “In the second phase, we will be using Hyperion data – Hyper Spectral Remote Sensing (HSRS) – which will use more than 200 bandwidths. Earlier, techniques with multi-spectrum made use of eight bandwidths. While HSRS is done on vegetation, for the first time it will be used on coral reefs.”