Lok Sabha Question No. 5190 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Installation of New Radar System
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Shri Jashubhai Bhilubhai Rathva

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5190

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 2 ND  APRIL, 2025

## INSTALLATION OF NEW RADAR SYSTEM

## 5190.   SHRI JASHUBHAI BHILUBHAI RATHVA:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of proposed locations for installation of new radar system in the country;
- (b) the manner in which their placement be prioritised based on geographical vulnerability to extreme weather events;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  outlined  the  expected  percentage  increase  in  forecast accuracy particularly for extreme weather conditions such as cyclones and thunderstorms, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  timeline  for  full  deployment  and  operationalisation  of  these  advanced  data collection systems?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) The  India  Meteorological  Department  (IMD)  has  planned  new  radars  across  the country. Tentative sites where the radars are planned to be installed are given below:
-  12  no.  of  C-Band  Doppler  Weather  Radars  (DWRs)  tentatively  at  Raipur, Mangalore, Ranchi, Lakshadweep, Malda, Aurangabad, Balasore, Sambalpur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Rupsi, & Port Blair.
-  12  no.  of  X-Band  DWRs  tentatively  at  Pune,  Kolkata,  Purnea,  Varanasi, Wayanad, Bhubaneswar, Dharwad, Lahaul &Spiti, Aligarh (GoUP), Azamgarh (GoUP), Jhansi (GoUP), Lucknow (GoUP).
-  10 no. of X-Band DWRs for North East tentatively at Jorhat, Tezpur, Aizawl, Namsai, Silchar, Imphal, Dimapur, Mandala Top, Central Arunachal Pradesh, & Guwahati.
-  In addition, 53 radars (8 S-Band, 20 C-Band, and 25 X-Band) are also planned to be installed across the country under the Mission Mausam so that the entire country is brought under radar coverage.
- (b) The locations of the DWRs have been arrived upon considering the gap areas in the coverage of the existing DWR network.
- (c) In addition to the proposed improvement in the radar coverage mentioned above, other observation systems like wind profilers, radio sonde/radio wind, microwave radiometers,  etc.,  are  also  planned  under  the  Mission  Mausam.  Along  with  the improvement in the observational network, deployment of high-performance computing  infrastructure,  advanced  Earth  system  models,  integration  of  artificial intelligence  (AI)  and  machine  learning  (ML)  technologies,  etc,  under  the  Mission Masuam will help improve in forecasts on various timescales, especially in locationspecific nowcast (forecast up to a few hours) to short-range forecast up to 3 days. The implementation  of  the  Mausam  Mission  is  likely  to  help  (i)  in  capturing  and monitoring all the weather events happening in the country so that no weather system will go undetected (ii) improve the frequency of nowcasting extreme weather such as thunderstorms, lightening, strong winds, etc. from 3 hrs. to 1 hr. (iii) improve the short and  medium  range  weather  forecast  accuracy  by  about  5-10%  and  (iv)  improve  air quality forecasts by about 5-10% in the major metro cities.
- (d) The entire country will be under radar coverage within the next 2-3 years.

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