Farmers threaten to lock Pune IMD office for ‘wrong’ monsoon forecast

PUNE: A group of farmers in Beed, called Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, has threatened to lock the Met office in the city on Monday in a letter to the India Meteorological Department for getting the monsoon forecast wrong this year.

The letter alleged that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) conspired with seed and pesticide manufacturing companies and wrongfully inflated the monsoon rainfall forecast, putting farmers in a tight spot.The letter stated that farmers had lost lakhs of rupees because of the wrong forecast and that the IMD would now have to reimburse them.
The IMD officials have informed the Pune police commissioner’s office and the Shivajinagar police station about the threat letter besides sending a copy of it to the collectors of Pune and Beed, and Beed police, so that the authorities could take suitable action. The Pune police said that they were keeping a watch on the IMD office in view of the threat.
The TOI is in possession of a copy of the letter sent by a farmers’ social worker, Bhai Gangabhishan Thavare, from the Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, to the IMD’s agromet department on October 9. It alleged, “A police complaint was filed against the Met department on July 14 last year as the farmers had suffered financial losses to the tune of Rs2.5 lakh because of the incorrect monsoon forecast issued that year. This year, the monsoon forecast has again gone wrong. Therefore, farmers will be visiting your premises on October 15 to lock the establishment.”
The letter stated that farmers had spent lakhs of rupees on seeds and pesticides last year, going by the IMD’s rain forecast. “But it did not rain as per the forecast of the department, which caused huge financial losses to the farmers. A similar situation has cropped up this year,” it said.
An IMD official told TOI that the letter could have been sent out of political interest since the elections were imminent. “This is a democracy, so people are free to say what they want. If they are not satisfied with a service, they are free not to use that service. It is up to the user to decide. We have been doing a satisfactory job on our part in issuing correct cyclone, rainfall and other weather forecasts. This tendency to censure an organization is not a progressive sign,” he said.
Another Met department official said a similar letter had come last year, too. “Such threats keep coming. In 2017 too, some groups had tried to lodge a police complaint and had threatened to come here, but nobody turned up. We have received two letters from the same organization this year — one on August 15 and another recently. The letter alleged that our forecast was wrong and that we had a nexus with seed and pesticide companies. We have merely informed the police about this and requested them to take appropriate action,” he said.
Shivaji Bodakhe, the joint commissioner of police (law and order), Pune, said the police had started keeping a watch on the IMD’s premises. “We would come to know if anybody visits the department to do something troublesome. If they do, suitable action will be taken against them,” he said.
A police complaint was filed by another organization, called Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, led by MP Raju Shetti, last year against IMD in Parbhani citing similar allegations.