1 week Ago
Bengaluru: The prolonged delay by the govt in finalising a suitable 30x30ft plot of land to set up the much-awaited ‘ C-band Doppler weather radar ' seems to have cost Bengaluru dearly. The country's tech capital missed its chance to become the first city in Karnataka to boast the presence of an advanced weather radar, as the coastal city of Mangaluru has overtaken it. In less than a month, India Meteorological Department (IMD) is set to commission a Doppler radar at Shakti Nagar, off the Mangalutu-Solapur highway.
Having witnessed flash floods due to untimely rain over the past few years, Bengaluru has been demanding an advanced Doppler radar for a while. In the absence of the advanced system, the city has been dependent on forecasts issued from similar radar systems at Chennai and Goa, which aren't so accurate considering the long distance. While there was no progress on the city's demand for a weather radar all these days, Union minister Shobha Karandlaje was successful in getting a Doppler radar sanctioned for Bengaluru from the Union ministry of science and technology and earth sciences in July.
The work was to start by Dec 2024, provided the state govt allocated suitable land for it. However, the delay in land identification has prompted IMD to choose Mangaluru for installing the radar. While IMD scientists had zeroed in on a location atop Nandi Hills, Karandlaje wanted it to be anywhere in Bangalore North (Jakkur) — the constituency she represents.
Given the logistical issues and daily commute to Nandi Hills by IMD officials, the search was on for another suitable location with proper elevation, enabling the radar to track the movement of clouds without any obstacles. N Puviyarasan, head of the Indian meteorological centre in Bengaluru, told STOI a place has, in fact, been finalised off Magadi Road. "A small 30x30ft plot at Vishwaneedam, off Magadi Road in west Bengaluru, had been finalised.
However, it's part of a parcel of land belonging to a functioning govt school. A request was made to allocate the space for setting up the radar. The proposal is currently at the education secretary level and we are awaiting feedback from the department.
For now, we are going ahead with the installation of a Doppler radar at Mangaluru's Shakti Nagar," he explained. Initially, IMD planned to commission the Mangaluru radar station by Jan 15, 2025, coinciding with the celebrations of the department's foundation day. However, owing to the delay in providing power connection and setting up a separate transformer for the radar network, the commissioning has been deferred to Feb-March, according to senior IMD officials.
The weather radar will have an effective operational range of 250km, which would help in accurately predicting sudden downpours well in advance. The officials also explained that a similar radar will also be set up at Ballari, along with an upcoming X-band radar at Dharwad, over the next few months..
