Stalemate over closure of IMD weather observatory continues as Kerala sticks to its stance

While the State govt. insists the IMD either shift to a nearby rented facility or acquire land, the agency has been dragging its feet on the issue. The IMD temporarily closed down one of its observatories in Kerala on October 29

Hardly a week after the closure of the weather observatory in Alappuzha by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the stalemate over the issue continues with the State insisting that the weather agency either shift it to a nearby rented facility or acquire land for reopening the observatory, for which the State will help the agency, but the IMD will have to pay the price for the land.

The IMD temporarily closed down the observatory on October 29, which started functioning in 1931, in the wake of an eviction notice issued by the Port department. The closure of the observatory created a big void in the coastal stretch of the State as it is the sole coastal observatory between Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, and the data from this coastal observatory play a key role in weather forecasting for the initial two days. 

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior government bureaucrat said the State has to give everything for free to the Centre, while the latter has been charging the State for every service. In fact, the State has requested the IMD to switch to a nearby new building under the Port department which was renovated for this purpose two years ago. However, the agency has been dragging its feet and recently requested the State to provide the building by making the space usable. The Port department then communicated that the renovated building has no structural problems other than lying idle for the last two years.

Further, the IMD has been looking for a facility without rent, according to the minutes of a meeting convened soon after the closure of the observatory. The meeting also suggested that the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) discuss with the IMD and the Kerala Maritime Board to break the stalemate and find a solution to the issue, which has been in the public domain since 2012. According to Neetha K. Gopal, IMD director, Thiruvananthapuram, the IMD has taken up the issue with the State government and is hopeful of an early solution and reinstatement of the observatory in Alappuzha.

On the other hand, State government sources said it is ready to provide a rented building or suitable land within a 3-km radius of the weather observatory if the IMD is ready to pay for it. The IMD had been using the building of the Port department without any rent since 1931 as part of a decade-old agreement. After the closure of the observatory, the staff were redeployed to other centres after dismantling the equipment of the IMD. 

Alappuzha has prominent climate change in the millennium, where extreme temperatures were recorded during summer compared to other surrounding coastal stations. Plus, the data from Alappuzha are used for ingesting into numerical models that issue forecasts for a region. Climate change predictions are solely dependent on cloud physics, and hence more data are essential from almost all districts of Kerala.

Published - November 04, 2024 07:51 pm IST