The IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre has started including cities under Pakistan-administered-Kashmir in its forecasts, a departure from its earlier format, officials said on Thursday.
The IMD has started including Gilgit-Baltistan andMuzaffarabad, which are parts of PaK, under the Jammu and Kashmirmeteorological sub-division since May 5, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head ofthe Regional Meteorological Department that gives forecast for the northwestmeteorological division of the IMD.
IMD Director General M Mohapatra said they have beenmentioning areas under PaK under its daily weather bulletin ever since thebifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir in the two union territories August last year.
However, officials said it’s now being mentioned explicitlyunder the Jammu and Kashmir subdivision.
These cities of PaK have now found a place in the overallforecast of the northwest division.
The northwest division consists of nine sub-divisions –Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi-Chandigarh-Haryana,Punjab, east Uttar Pradesh, west Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan and westRajasthan.
The inclusion of Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan in theforecast comes amid Pakistan’s Supreme Court allowing elections inGilgit-Baltistan this week. India had strongly reacted to the development.
Sources added that internally, it was pointed out that sinceIMD has been mentioning these cities under the PaK in its daily nationalweather bulletin and also the local bulletins, they should also find a place inthe forecasts of the RMC.
Mohapatra said that the IMD, being the World MeteorologicalDepartment nominated Regional Meteorological Centre, provides severe weatherwarnings to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar,Nepal and Bhutan detailing forecasts for the next five days.