The Samikhsya Bureau
BHUBANESWAR: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will set up country’s first thunderstorm research centre at Baleswar.
IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra – popularly known as the “Cyclone Man of India” revealed this during his interaction to a television channel.
The objective of setting up the thunderstorm testbed is to minimise loss of lives and property due to lightning strikes, he explained.
The centre will be set up in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences, IMD, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
IMD, ISRO and DRDO have their units in Baleswar.
Observatories will be set up to cater to nearby areas and studies on thunderstorms will be conducted on the testbed,” the DG elaborated.
A large number of lives are lost in Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand states every year due to lightning strikes during the months April, May and June. The testbed centre in Baleswar assumes enough significance in view of these largescale loss of lives, he pointed out.
Odisha has lost 3,218 lives in lightning strikes during the past nine years.
The IMD DG also shared that a Monsoon Testbed Centre will be set up near Bhopal.
