Chinese-made Doppler radar dumped in Paradip

 Security concerns have prompted the State Meteorological department to dump a Chinese-made Doppler radar and install a German system on Paradip for generation of fool proof weather data and advance cyclone warning information.

The Paradip Doppler radar station is of paramount importance as this region is prone to natural calamities like cyclone, storm and tidal surge, but its commissioning got delayed after the defence ministry disapproved the system with China-made gadgets from the security point of view.

“The matter has been taken up by the Union ministry of earth science after the Odisha government shot off a series of letters for expeditious commissioning of the project. The ministry of defence has agreed in principle for the launch of the project,” State Director of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Sarat Chandra Sahu said on Friday.

“The Chinese system has been rejected. Now the Paradip station will have an improvised German-made Doppler radar,” Sahu said.

“The China-made doppler radar system is still in our possession. After the defence ministry directed us not to install the China-made set, it has not been put to use. The building and other infrastructures are ready for the launch of the state-of-the-art weather station. Once the German-made system is provided to us, the station will get operational without any further delay,” he informed.

Security concerns were raised by the Union defence ministry. It was feared that the in-built chips in the radar might help to pass on vital information to the manufacturing country, said an official.

The obsolete analogue radar installed at the Paradip weather station for weather forecast has turned defunct even as harried meteorology personnel are now entirely dependent on the weathermen at Vishakhapatnam and Kolkata for forecast update, Sahu said.