After almost three years, the Centre has finally found a candidate to head the 132-year old Indian Meteorological Department, which is about to undertake a Rs 900 crore expansion plan.

Dr Ajit Tyagi, a senior Indian Air Force officer looking after the meteorology in the IAF has been short-listed for the job, sources told Deccan Herald.

A ministerial search-cum-selection committee headed by Dr P S Goel, secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences has zeroed in on Dr Tyagi after much debate.

The panel’s recommendation has been forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on appointment, which will issue the formal order shortly.

Vacant

The post has been vacant since January 2005, when the then director general Dr S K Srivastava had to resign following his involvement in a sex scam involving an IMD employee. 

Background

Dr Srivastava was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation that filed a disproportionate asset case against him as well.

Trials, for both the cases, are going on.

The entire process was delayed due to certain objections raised by the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister (SAC-PM), headed by Dr C N R Rao.

Since the last three years, IMD worked without a full-time director which had strained its  modernisation drive at the apex weather agency as acting director generals like S R Kalsi, Bhukhan Lal and R C Bhatia did not have adequate administrative and financial powers to propel the modernisation.

On Thursday, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, headed by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, approved Rs 920 crore for the next two years to modernise IMD on a war footing.

Weather channel

The Centre wants to put in place a revamped weather department before the Commonwealth Games in 2010 for issuing more specific and accurate daily weather bulletin for the benefit of thousands of visitors. A national weather channel may also be in the offing. 

The funding will help IMD to set up an end-to-end forecasting system whose hardware component will be worth Rs 208 crore.

Besides fulfiling its basic mandate, the revamped weather agency will also make tailor-made the forecasts for different sectors like civil aviation, tourism, agriculture, power generation and hydrological purposes. 

Accurate monitoring and warnings for severe weather events like thunderstorms, dust storms, heavy rainfall, Gale winds, hail heat waves and cold waves are also expected.