KS Hosalikar, Head Of Pune IMD Weather Forecast Division, Retires

Scientist KS Hosalikar, the head of India Meteorological Department (IMD) Pune's weather forecasting division, retired on Tuesday after 32 years of service in various roles.

Beginning as a trainee meteorologist in 1992, he served in different capacities, including technical, operational and administrative branches. He contributed significantly to agricultural meteorology research and operations. He was also posted to Gangtok, Sikkim, where he was responsible for weather forecasts and agricultural meteorology. He later served as director of the Meteorological Centre Bhopal, where he was commended for his handling of weather inputs during significant events.

During his tenure, he was transferred to Meteorological Centre (MC) in New Delhi, North East, Mumbai, Pune and was on deputation to Antarctica. In a release addressing the media, he wrote, "Antarctica was a lifetime experience to face the most severe weather events, and so I could understand its impacts in my early days of career."

Hosalikar took to X ( formerly known as Twitter) and wrote, "As I am retiring on superannuation from services on Dec 31, 2024, I bow to my head to IMD, MOES, and every one of you, with humility and great pride in my heart, where I had an opportunity given by God to serve the country in my best possible ways ever since my joining the department as Met Gr Il in 1992."

"I was fortunate to get a chance to work on the WMO front. It was a different platform and this international exposure helped me a lot. How to further improve the service domain in which I am involved; was only in mind and I continued to work in that direction only. Not every attempt was successful, but it was full of experience for the next," added Hosalikar.

He also thanked the media for always reaching out to him. He wrote, "Media has taught me immensely, especially for the specific requirements of users, simplicity required in forecast and update delivery, use of local languages, use of latest technology and even more."