Lok Sabha Question No. 3416 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Weather Forecasting and Research System
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Sunil Baburao Mendhe

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## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRY OFEARTHSCIENCES

## LOK SABHA UN-STARREDQUESTIONNo. 3416

## TO BEANSWEREDONMARCH13, 2020 WEATHERFORECASTINGAND RESEARCHSYSTEM

## 3416. SHRI SUNIL BABURAOMENDHE:

Will the Minister of EARTHSCIENCESbe pleased to state:

- (a) the aims and objectives of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)system;
- (b) the extent to which the above system has been effective in providing early warning to the users in metropolitan areas especially in Maharashtra and Delhi NCR;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to set up the same in all the Tier-I and Tier-II cities of the country; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER FORSCIENCEANDTECHNOLOGY ANDEARTHSCIENCES (Dr. HARSHVARDHAN)

- (a) Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India, has introduced a major national initiative, "System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research" known as "SAFAR" for large metropolitan cities of India to provide location specific information on air quality in near real time and its forecast 1-3 days in advance for the first time in India. The SAFAR system has been developed under Metropolitan Air Quality and Weather Services program of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, along with partner institutions namely India Meteorological Department (IMD) and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). SAFARhas been implemented in four cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad to provide the Air Quality Index (AQI) forecast

as an operational service. The implementation of SAFARhas been made possible with an active collaboration with local municipal corporations and various local educational institutions and governmental agencies in that Metro city. The ultimate objective of the project is to increase awareness among general public regarding the air quality in their city well in advance so that appropriate mitigation measures and systematic action can be taken up for betterment of air quality and related health issues. It is to educate public, prompting self-mitigation and also to help develop mitigation strategies for policy makers.

The new air quality early warning system for Delhi (AQ-EWS)has been developed in 2018-19 jointly by the scientists at IITM, IMD, NCMRWFand National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, USA. This is meant to issue alerts on large scale air pollution events that may occur over the Delhi region making use of the SAFARnetwork observations and emission inventories.

- (b) Since Common Wealth Games 2010 in Delhi, SAFARhas created a lot of awareness among the public of Delhi which is spreading to other cities of India. This initiative has acquired international attention with queries from even other countries to help implementing such network. Collaborative work has started since long between SAFARgroup and health professionals for studies and significant number of publications has been made. Citizen's self-help groups, schools and municipalities are finding themselves as active participants in this attempt.
- (c) No Sir.
- (d) It is decided to scientifically upgrade the existing the network at four cities to further expand its scope to generate integrated weather, air and health advisories.

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