Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Government has shelled out Rs 80 lakh as fees to private weather forecast service providers for a year between October 2020 and September 2021.
Though the agreements for providing forecasts with Skymet, IMB Weather and Earth Networks have lapsed in September, all barring Earth Networks, were still providing updates to the State.
The government would decide on whether to renew the agreements based on the recommendation of a six-member panel headed by the member secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA). The authority has been of the view that the inputs from private agencies had helped in covering the gaps in the India Meteorological Department's reports.
The government had sought the help of private agencies following contradictory views regarding the predictions of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) during the 2018 and 2019 floods.
Need for automated stations
The private agencies, however, do not have automated stations in the landslide-prone high ranges.
Official sources said the Central Weather Department's apathy in setting up automated stations was the major issue that Kerala has been facing. The State had handed over 73 sites to the Centre for setting up the stations, followed by a list of 65 other sites. In a belated reply, the weather department expressed satisfaction over 62 sites, and efforts were now on to identify 23 more sites as directed by the Centre.
Of the State-demanded 100 automated stations, 15 have been set up. The stations could pass on information in 15 minutes.
Earlier, the State had held talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), seeking its help in predicting weather conditions. The talks were not fruitful. Additionally, ISRO's 60 automated weather stations in the State have been non-functional. It was in this backdrop that the State decided to seek reports from private agencies.
Limits of private inputs
Still, the private agency reports could not be used to advance official warnings. Only the weather report by IMD could be used for issuing alerts under various colour-codes to make precautionary steps at local level.
The rapidly changing predictions, too, have been hampering KSDMA's activities. The predictions during this monsoon too went wrong several times. The several rounds of talks held with the weather department did not show much progress.
Currently, the KSDMA has been considering private agency reports before issuing alerts to district collectors.
