‘Weather watch group to benefit farm sector’

Dehradun, March 23
Setting up of mandatory crop weather watch group will greatly benefit Uttarakhand in increasing its agriculture yield in the state. This was stated by Director, Dehradun Meteorological Centre, Dr Anand Sharma, while interacting with the The Tribune on World Meteorological Organisation Day today.
He said several states of the country had the mandatory crop weather watch group that was proving useful for the agriculture sector.
The group that comprises stakeholders linked to agriculture like irrigation, power, seed resources, weather and others, holds regular meetings in order to have a look at all factors that affect the agriculture and take necessary measures. “The state needs to have such groups for strengthening its agriculture sector,” said Dr Sharma.
Referring to the role of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in the country, he said the IMD was providing services in almost every sector of the economy such as food security, transport, health, tourism, management of water energy and other resources in environment monitoring and protection, disaster management and in the sustainable development. “We have to make judicious use of the climate information and services to maximise benefits and minimise risks”, he said, adding that timely forecast in the state had helped prevent hazards from turning into disasters.
Dr Sharma also held that the centre had been receiving appreciation for its services from all quarters. “Very recently we received a letter of appreciation from Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer Radha Raturi for the weather forecast details provided to the commission in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state,” he stated. He said even the External Affairs Ministry and Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force had lauded their services linked to weather forecast during Kailash Mansarovar Yatra every year.
Meanwhile, the meteorological centre was open today for students and general public as a part of the day. Students who visited the centre in big numbers were informed about various issues related to atmospheric sciences. They also had a look on the meteorological instruments.