Mumbai: The Bombay high court has expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in installing a Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at the Veravali high-level reservoir in Mumbai.
The court also asked them to complete the installation work before the next monsoon arrives.
A division bench of Justice R.M. Sawant and Justice K.K. Sonawane was hearing a public interest litigaation (PIL) filed by advocate Atal Dubey in 2015, which sought corrective steps after heavy showers on a day in June 2015 caused extensive inundation and affected services.
The PIL resulted in several orders towards ensuring that the second radar was installed for Mumbai, but, despite several court orders, it was yet to be installed.
The DWR was first recommended in a report in the year 2006 by retired bureaucrat Dr Madhav Chitale following a fact-finding inquiry into the deluge of July 26, 2005.
On the last hearing, the court had asked the Central government to file an affidavit on steps taken by it to install the second DWR in Mumbai.
Accordingly, Mr Bishwombhar, a scientist working with the IMD, filed an additional affidavit stating that the IMD has surveyed the site with the offices concerned of the MCGM and central public work department (CPWD) and prepared a list of suggestions.
The CPWD also made an estimate and sent it to the Central IMD department for approval.
The court then directed Central IMD headquarters to approve the said estimate expeditiously and reveal its progress before the court on next the hearing.
The affidavit also stated the commissioning of a C-band DWR for Mumbai has already been initiated and the procurement of second new DWR is to be done with global tendering process and all the processes would be completed by March 2019.
