ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, on Tuesday, expressed serious reservations on the inadequate expertise of Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) officials.

The committee members visited PMD under the chairpersonship of Senator Seemee Ezdi. The Senate Committee was welcomed by PMD DG Sahibzad Khan upon their arrival. The committee made a tour of different sections and received a briefing about the overall working of the department.

The committee observed an anomaly in data provided by the PMD about the recent floods. The PMD forecast was 40 percent higher than usual, whereas, the actual was 400 percent higher, to which, the PMD DG was not able to respond properly.

The Senate body expressed serious reservations about the inadequate expertise of the PMD officials. Senator Ezdi commented that Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries in the globally rising climate crisis and the PMD should acquire expertise as per the international standards in order to cope with this crisis.

Sahibzad Khan, while apprising the committee, said that the PMD provide services in three different sections which include weather forecast, earthquakes, and flood monitoring. Currently, 300 manual and automative weather stations are working in different parts of the country and the department intends to establish 335 more weather stations in the coming years in order to achieve proficiency, he added.

The meeting was attended by Senators Keshoo Bai, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Khalida Ateeb, Dr Muhammad Hamayun Mohmand, DG PMD Mahr Sahibzad Khan, and other senior officers of the Ministry of Climate Change.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023