NEW DELHI: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) could soon be playing a major role in deciding the itinerary of cricket tournaments in India and other countries in the Indian subcontinent.

Union Minister and president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Sharad Pawar has agreed to a suggestion from his Cabinet colleague, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, that the BCCI could get weather forecast from the IMD before deciding on the venues and timings for cricket tournaments.

Sibal's suggestion

Mr. Sibal made the suggestion to Mr. Pawar following a presentation by the IMD last week on what kind of weather condition could be expected during the entire course of the on-going India-Bangladesh ODI and test series in Bangladesh.

The presentation clearly showed that the tournament could have been best avoided, as the climate of Bangladesh was generally quite warm and humid during May, with more than 60 per cent probability of occurrence of moderate to severe thunderstorm activity on most days.

This has already happened as the ODI on May 10 was interrupted at the very start of the match, restricting the match to 47 overs a side. On Saturday again, the match was interrupted by rain, leading to restriction of the match by one over each.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mr. Sibal said there were indications that Dhaka and Chittagong might continue to receive light to moderate rainfall activity, accompanied by thundershowers during the next five days, and consequently the ODI on May 15 could be interrupted.

But, more significantly, the monsoon current was presently quite active in the Bay of Bengal and the system was expected to maintain the momentum. As a result, there was a very high possibility of the monsoon setting over Bangladesh a week earlier than the normal date of June 1. The two test matches — in Chittagong from May 18 to 22 and in Dhaka from May 25-29 — could face major disruptions, he said.

The Minister said he would soon have detailed discussions with Mr. Pawar. ``Cricket is such a popular game. Not only the players, but the spectators could also benefit a lot if weather experts were consulted at the time of fixing the itineraries.''

Permanent arragement

Mr. Sibal said he would offer a permanent arrangement so that whenever the BCCI has to fix the itinerary of a tournament, the IMD could provide proper weather inputs.

He would seek to have the arrangement on payment basis. ``By making proper use of the weather inputs, the BCCI would be able to fix the venues and the timings for the matches in such a way that it got more revenue. The IMD would provide all assistance. If needed, there could even be a permanent representative of the IMD on the Board to provide guidance on a continuous basis.''

Mr. Sibal also announced that the Union Cabinet would soon take up for consideration the proposal of the Ministry to modernise the IMD at a cost of Rs. 900 crore. He welcomed the decision of the meeting of the consultative parties of the Antarctic Treaty to accept the draft proposal of India to set up another research station.

He also welcomed the resolution adopted at the meeting for regulation of ship-based tourism in the Antarctica waters.

According to the resolution, the tour operators should not operate ships with a capacity of more than 500 passengers and at any given point of time, the number of tourists on shore should not exceed 100. The operators also need to maintain a minimum guide to passenger ratio of 1:20 while ashore.

The regulations are being introduced in the wake of increasing arrival of tourist traffic to the icy continent and the growing concern that unless regulated, it could result in long-term environmental problems.

Last year alone, about 30,000 tourists were estimated to have visited Antarctica.

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