Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr. Prithviraj Chavan has called for giving a boost to the research and development in order to protect our environment facing challenges arising due to climatic changes. He was addressing an august gathering after inauguration of the first Doppler Weather Radar in Central India at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Nagpur today.Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Chavan said that the Union Government is implementing an ambitious scheme for modernisation of the weather assessment system of India Meteorological Department which involves an expenditure of one thousand crore rupees. It encompasses fifty five sophisticated weather radars along with a super computer and networking of the meteorological centres in different parts of the country.This is the third Doppler Weather Radar in the country after Delhi and Hyderabad and the efforts are on to set up indigenously developed state-of the-art radar in Mumbai shortly. In all, six radars would be erected in Maharashtra for this purpose and other centres would include Akola, Aurangabad, Ratnagiri and Solapur, he added.The sophisticated Doppler Weather Radar commissioned in Nagpur with an expenditure of Rs. nineteen crore would be able to provide exact data relating to different components of weather. It would go a long way in strengthening the capacity of forecasting and now casting the extreme weather conditions and help reduce the loss of lives and property in case of natural calamities.