<span style="color: #222222;">Union Minister for Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh has said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) is exploring the possibilities to deploy drones to gather atmospheric data from various locations, in place of weather balloons. In a written reply to a question  in the Lok Sabha yesterday, Dr Singh informed that an inter-departmental committee has been constituted by IMD to conduct studies in this regard. He also said that Ministry of Earth Sciences is setting up a Thunderstorm Testbed site over East India for in-depth study of thunderstorms over the region. As a part of this project, the Ministry proposes to purchase two drones for monitoring of weather parameters of the atmospheric boundary layer prior to occurrence of thunderstorms and also for post event monitoring of damages.</span><br />