Vested interests in Hyderabad are said to be making serious efforts once again to shift the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC) to Hyderabad. It may be recalled that unsuccessful attempts were made to shift the CWC to Hyderabad in July last year and also during 2009.
The attempts to shift the CWC last year drew flak from meteorologists of the city. It may be recalled that the Tsunami Warning Centre, originally proposed to be set up in Visakhapatnam, was shifted to Hyderabad in the past.
The CWC forecasts cyclones and allied phenomena. It has been rendering excellent service to coastal AP for the past several decades. The Meteorological Centre in Hyderabad forecasts rain for the state. Moving the CWC away from the coast involves wasteful expenditure besides making predictions difficult. The move is far-fetched at a time when strengthening of the CWC with more staff and radars is the need of the hour, feel scientists.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha Member T. Subbarami Reddy has written to the Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences Shailesh Nayak opposing the proposal to shift the CWC to Hyderabad. Noting that the CWC had been rendering yeomen services to the entire AP coast extending from Srikakulam to Nellore, he sought that the centre should be strengthened with ultra modern and state-of-the-art equipment.
