Import of sensitive equipments from China continues to be a matter of concern and the Centre's high level committee of secretaries (CoS) has ordered a detailed third party security check on four Doppler radars from China before their installation in coastal areas with maximum disaster
risk.
"The CoS has asked the ministry of earth sciences and the defence ministry to engage a suitable national or international third party for testing and certifying the safety of these radars from a defence security view-point, as well as to evaluate whether there is any risk of data or images from those radars being transmitted to any unauthorised entity," said a senior government official after the recent meeting of the CoS, adding "The home secretary suggested that the Department of Space in association with DRDO and DEIT could be asked to do this evaluation…alternatively it was proposed a national or international third party agency be engaged to test and certify safety of radars from a security point of view."
The radars, sources said, were proposed to be installed at Karaikal in TN, Paradip in Orissa, Panaji in Goa and Kochi in Kerala to improve weather forecasting. However, they have been lying at weather observatories since 2010.