Doppler radar may miss monsoon date again
Shweta Kamat
PANJIM, FEB 22
The indigenously made Doppler radar planned to be installed in Goa might miss its date with this year’s monsoon too.
The Indian Metrological Department (IMD) in Delhi is still processing the proposal for the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) radar for Goa after the Chinese-made radar was shifted out of state for security reasons.
IMD, Goa In-Charge K V Singh said that officials in Delhi are still working on the proposal for the purchase of a radar for the State.
He, however, said that the building at Altinho, where the radar would be installed, will be ready by April, 2011.
Singh said that the work has been executed by Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
It’s been more than two years now since the department is working on modifying the building. Since the announcement by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat over installation of radar in Goa, in 2009, the department has been grappling with licencing issues.
In the beginning, the department took almost a year to select a place for installation of the device and later decided to install it in the DWR building at Altinho, which needed modification.
As against 9 by 9 meters, the new building was modified to 15 by 15 meters as the antenna of the new radar is large.
By that time, the Chinese made radar was ferried to Goa via Mumbai in April 2010.
The department soon managed to get permission from the State public works and fire departments as well as from North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) to install the gadget.
However, the Corporation of the City of Panaji, which was supposed to give the construction licence, sat on the file for more than two months. The file was released only after the issue of delay in installing the radar was raised in the legislative assembly’s winter session in December 2009. Later, Kamat assured that the radar would be installed by June, 2010. However, the department has failed to complete the pending construction work.
The department received a major blow, when security reasons scuttled their plan. Being of Chinese-make , the Union Defence Ministry has cited security reasons for not letting this radar to be installed on the western coast
IMD had then suggested installation of the BEL- made radar at the Goa facility.