NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 -- India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying has said it would soon initiate a process to remeasure the height of Mount Chomolungma, also known as Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain.

The announcement was made by Swarna Subba Rao, head of Survey of India, in southern India's city of Hyderabad on the sidelines of a meeting of the Geospatial World Forum.

"Survey of India will soon take up a project to gauge the height of Mount Everest," Rao, the surveyor general of India said. "Everest's height was declared in 1855 and many others also measured it."

The decision to undertake the exercise was taken following doubts expressed by a scientists about shrinking of the Chomolungma in the wake of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015.

The height of Mt. Everest is recognized to be 8,848 meters.

According to Rao, the remeasuring of Mt. Chomolungma would help in understanding tectonic plate movements.

Reports quoting satellite data say impact of the 2015 earthquake reduced the height of the peak.