Kerala skips IMD forecasts, ropes in private firms

After a tussle between the LDF led government and the Union government's IMD, Kerala government is all set to rope in private weather forecasting companies replacing the Indian Meteorological Department. When ETV Bharat contacted Dr Sathi Kumari, a senior scientist in IMD, she said that there are no partialities in dealing with states.

New Delhi: Kerala government is all set to rope in private weather forecasting companies against the Indian Meteorological Department to do weather prediction after a tussle between the LDF led government and the Union government's IMD.

According to the reports, Kerala had allocated a sum of Rs 95 lakhs and has been in talks with three private weather forecasting agencies.

Kerala, which is a flood-prone state and faced severe devastation during 2018 floods has also charged the IMD as an unreliable agency as it allegedly failed to fulfill the needs of Kerala.

"Kerala wanted 10 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) from the IMD to predict the rainfall, wind flow, and other extreme weather conditions. Even as the IMD had promised to install AWSs during the cyclone Ockhi and Kerala floods, nothing has been materialised as of now. Therefore, the government has moved towards private firms," said reports.

When ETV Bharat contacted Dr Sathi Kumari, a senior scientist in IMD, she said that there are no partialities in dealing with states.

"I am not the right person to comment on this subject. However, I want to clear that IMD is predicting forecast and giving alerts to all the states equally," the IMD scientist said.

Officials who were aware of the developments said that Kerala had forced IMD to establish the AWSs at places which were rejected by it.