Parliament Question: Installation of weather stations

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1483 ANSWERED ON 12/02/2026 INSTALLATION OF WEATHER STATIONS

1483. # SMT. SEEMA DWIVEDI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

(a) the doppler weather radars and automatic weather stations established during the last year;

(b) the coastal, hilly and island regions where there is still a lack of monitoring;

(c) whether there was delay in radar installation or calibration;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) the manner in which the data obtained from private or academic networks is being integrated; and

(f) the timeline set to achieve intensive national coverage? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) During last one year, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has installed 3 Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs), (2 C-Band Radars at Raipur and Mangalure and one X-Band DWR at Jorhat, Assam), and 200 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) across India.

(b) The current DWR network of 48 DWRs covers about 92% of the total area of the country and there are some gaps in the DWR coverage over the coastal, hilly, and island regions across the country. To improve the radar monitoring across the Himalayan region, IMD has installed a total of 10 DWRs in the Western Himalayan Region at locations, Leh, Banihal Top, Jammu, Srinagar, Lansdowne, Mukteshwar, Surkanda Devi, Jot, Murari Devi, Kufri, which are operational in real-time. In the eastern Himalayan region, currently, radars are operational at Mohanbari, Cherrapunji, Agartala, Jorhat. In the coastal states, there are 11 radars functioning with west coast located at Thiruvananthpuram, Kochi, Mangalore, Mumbai, Veravali, Mumbai (Juhu), Mumbai (Panvel), Mumbai (Kalyan), Mumbai (Vasai), Goa and Bhuj, and the East coast with 8 radar with Chennai, Gopalpur, Paradip, Karaikal, NIOT Chennai, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Sriharikota (ISRO).

(c)-(d) There have been no major delays. However, in a few cases, some delays have occurred due to the non-availability of technically suitable space and related facilities.

(e) Currently, there is no proposal to use the data available from private or academic networks.

(f) The current DWR network covers nearly 92% of the country’s geographical area. Further, MoES is also coordinating with State Governments on the installation of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) under the “Weather Information Network and Data System”

(WINDS) to establish a nationwide network of AWS at block/tehsil levels and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) at Gram Panchayat levels to achieve nationwide coverage. *****