Dissemination of information on weather warnings needs to be improved: MoES official

There is an "issue" in reaching out to people in regard to extreme weather warnings and dissemination of information needs to be improved, a top official of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) said today.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which comes under the MoES, faced criticism following the death of over 250 people in dust and thunder storms in the country last month.

The Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan governments had criticised and accused the IMD for not giving adequate information of the extreme weather warning, a charge denied by the country's official weather agency.

The two states had recorded the maximum deaths.

The IMD had also faced criticism from the Kerala government over the issue during Cyclone Ockhi.

"We predicted about the extreme weather event three days before (it hit). We admit that there is an issue in reaching out to people and there is a need to improve our dissemination strategy, M Rajeevan, Secretary, MoES, said in response to a question.

Defending his ministry, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said the accuracy level of the IMD has improved drastically over the period of time.

He was addressing reporters on the work done by his ministries over the last four years.

Vardhan also holds charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

"We don't want to get into the blame-game (between the Centre and the states). We have been able to provide prediction before time with perfect precision," the Union minister said.