The mistrust with which India views China has taken a toll on Mumbai’s weather prediction mechanism.Not only has the installation of the doppler radar — imported from China — been put on hold, but the radar itself has been sent back to Delhi.
The China-made radar, lying unused for more than six months at the compound of the weather bureau office in Colaba, was shifted to Delhi in the last week of December. The administration was forced to take this decision after the defence ministry vetoed a proposal to allow a team of Chinese officials to visit the high-security zone in Mumbai to instal the radar.
Officially, however, said it was a ‘‘technical problem’’ that led to the development. ‘‘We have moved the radar to Delhi as there was some technical problem,’’ IMD-Mumbai deputy director-general of meteorology R V Sharma said. The doppler radar was slated to be installed atop a building called Archana in Navy Nagar. The defence ministry had no objection to the installation of the radar but said no Chinese national could be allowed in the restricted zone, a senior Mantralaya official told TOI.
The Maharashtra government took up the matter with higher-ups at the Centre. TOI was the first paper to report about this problem when chief minister Ashok Chavan wrote a letter, seeking to expedite the process of giving clearance to Chinese scientists for their visit to Mumbai to instal the radar. ‘‘But the Centre denied permission for security reasons,’’ the Mantralaya official added.
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