Shillong, Nov 15: Stakeholder workshop at Shillong to commemorate the 150 years of services to the nation by India Meteorological Department To mark the celebration of India Meteorological Department (IMD) 150 years of services to the nation, the Meteorological Centre Shillong organized a one-day Stakeholder Workshop on “Weather and Climate Service” for Meghalaya on 15th November 2024 at Conference Hall, Shillong Club Ltd (Residential).
The Chief Guest of the Workshop was Matsiewdor War Nongbri (IAS), Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Meghalaya in presence of Dr. M. Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Shri K.N. Mohan, Head, Regional Meteorlogical Centre Guwahati.
Dr. A.C. Lyngdoh, Head, Central Seismological Observatory and Shri Thangjalal Lhouvum, Head Meteorological Centre Shillong. The workshop was attended by senior IMD officers from RMC Guwahati, In charge of AMS Barapani and MO Sohra, officers and staff from MC Shillong and various stakeholders from Central and State Government along with various agencies, Institutes, AF Met. Shillong and Dorbar Shnong of Mawsynram.
During his inaugural speech Director General of IMD, Dr. M. Mohapatra introduced Mawsynram as the worlds rainiest place and discussed about the evolution of IMD since 1875 and current status of weather and climate services of IMD and the recently launched “Mausamgram” (https://mausamgram.imd.gov.in/ ) for location forecast of weather up to 10 days for a specific location based on the search option available; location, Pincode, grampanchayat and Lat-Long.
He also talked about the impact of weather on various sectors and the improvement in the forecasting services of IMD for the public as well as for different sectoral applications. The Chief Guest then inaugurated the recently installed Automatic Weather Station at Mawsynram, the world’s wettest place installed by IMD for the public.
During her inaugural speech Chief Guest Matsiewdor War Nongbri (IAS), highly appreciated Meteorological Centre Shillong for their constant support and all weather services for the state of Meghalaya and she congratulate IMD for successful 150 years of service to the nation.
The Chief Guest stress upon IMD to push for more adoption of its various app and for easy visibility and availability to the public. She talked about the importance of Impact Based Forecast (IBF) and Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) for last mile delivery of weather forecast and warnings with a request to all stakeholders to collaborate with IMD for improving the IBF services and application for the state at all levels.
The inaugural session was followed by a Technical Session with presentation from IMD scientist with a question and answer session; 1. Presentation on IMD@150 years Milestone and Future Roadmap by Shri K.N. Mohan, Scientist-G &Head, RMC Guwahati.
Presentation on Weather Monitoring and Forecasting Services of IMD for Meghalaya by Shri Thangjalal Lhouvum, Scientist-D and Head, MC Shillong This was followed by presentation and feedback from stakeholders and discussion with stakeholders moderated by Dr. M. Mohapatra, DG IMD.
Presentation and feedback on Disaster Management and Early Warning Services by Meghalaya SDMA 2. Presentation and feedback on Weather forecast and warning for Agriculture Services in Meghalaya by Directorate of Agriculture. Short feedback and comments from GSI Shillong, CPRI-ICAR, Water Resources Dept., AF Met. Shillong, Dorbar Shnong Mawsynram and Meghalaya Basin Management Authority (MBMA).
During his speech Rangbah Shnong, Mawsynram Shri A.L. Shangpliang thanked IMD for installing Automatic Weather Station at Mawsynram and also requested DG, IMD to establish a state-of-the-art weather observatory with an education exhibition centre for public and tourist at Mawsynram.
The Dorbar Shnong Mawsynram also offers land to IMD free of cost for the project so proposed. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks from Head, MC Shillong and concluding remarks from DG, IMD Shillong.
