JFA urges for improvement in meteorological services

Guwahati: Improved meteorological service and the availability of information related to weather forecast can reduce drastically the number accidents both in land and water ways, commented Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) in a statement, where the forum has also appealed to the media houses to provide some space for spreading the information related to weather predictions regularly.

“The Dhubri boat mishap that seemingly drowned over two hundred passengers should be an eye opener for all of us. For crossing a mighty river like Brahmaputra that need few hours in some places, nobody should sail without proper weather updates.

The State meteorological office must be activated and it should disseminate the information through various channels including its own centers and websites and also the mainstream media,” said the JFA statement issued on May 5 by its President Rupam Baruah and Secretary Nava Thakuria.

The JFA also argues that a large number of people have been killed in accidents taking places around the State, which can be minimized with the help of timely weather related information. Preparing for a long journey, the passengers could browse information like the prediction of rain, fog, wind, storm, cyclone etc and may reschedule their trips.

“If the daily newspapers dedicate little space for weather forecast for the next 24 hours and the television channels give few seconds for meteorological updates every hour, the common people will be benefited tremendously. Besides reducing the accidents the information will be helpful for millions of farmers too,” added in the statement.