Hyderabad: The Survey of India (SoI) is taking up a big challenge to re-measure the height of Mount Everest marking 250 years of its formation. The height of the highest mountain on Earth is 29,029 feet or 8,848 metres.
According to Surveyor General of India, Dr. Swarna Subba Rao, the height was measured by their organisation in the year 1850 and it is still considered the official figure throughout the world.
He said that their effort was to assess claims of experts that height of highest peak in the mountain had decreased due to climatic changes and the most recent earthquake that shook the Himalayan region.
Subba Rao stated that they will take up scientific studies with the assistance of their survey counterparts in Nepal. He will be holding discussions with Nepal Surveyor General soon. This exercise will be completed in two months’ time.
He said this expedition was planned on the eve of SOI completing 250 years of its existence. The East India Company started it and then the British government took care of it and finally SOI was brought under the Centre, he said.
