Dr Tyagi took over on March 11 after his appointment was finally cleared by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
“My focus will be modernisation of IMD before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. There will be new observatories, networks and a weather channel,” Dr Tyagi told Deccan Herald.
The new IMD chief wants to issue district level forecasts and specific agro-advisories from the 2008 monsoon session.
The 200 year old weather agency was headless since January 2005 when then director general Dr S K Srivastava had to resign following his association in a sex scandal involving an IMD lady employee.
Low key affair
In addition there is a disproportionate asset against Dr Srivastava, being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Interestingly, for reasons best known to the Ministry of Earth Science – the parent ministry for IMD – Dr Tyagi’s appointment has been kept an extremely low key affair. The IMD website did not have any information about the new chief even after ten days of his taking over.
“Outsider”
Sources said that the low-key entry of Dr Tyagi is possibly due to the ministry’s apprehensions regarding his acceptability in the IMD as he is an “outsider” in the apex weather agency. All his predecessors came up through the ranks.
The ACC approval comes at a time when an IMD scientist has challenged Dr Tyagi’s appointment at the Central Administrative Tribunal.
The challenger has contended that why the first selection process initiated by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was derailed mid-way and a fresh search-cum-selection process was initiated by the ministry.
In the process, the candidates shortlisted by the UPSC were left out paving the way for Dr Tyagi who was posted at the IAF headquarters in Delhi.
Since the last three years, IMD worked without a full-time director straining its modernisation drive as acting director generals did not have adequate administrative and financial powers to propel the modernisation drive.
The Union Cabinet has sanctioned Rs.920.00 crore to modernise IMD on a war footing in the next two years.
