Planning a wedding ? Check Web for weather

PATIALA, Feb 25: Wedding in the family? Don't consult the Pandit alone, also contact the office of the deputy commissioner for an accurat...

PATIALA, Feb 25: Wedding in the family? Don’t consult the Pandit alone, also contact the office of the deputy commissioner for an accurate forecast of the weather of any particular day, even five days in advance to finalise arrangements for the wedding.

This seems to be the in-thing in Patiala now with the website having been commissioned in the deputy commisioner’s office about a month back. Weather forecast from an agency agency of the united states is available for five days in advance and going by the record of the forecasts made so far, about 90 per cent have proved to be true.

Megha Singh Brar (not his real name) was sitting with his fingers crossed three days before the wedding of his daughter slated for the first week of February. He had booked a marriage palace for the reception of the barat and the dinner. But the cloudy weather was giving him tense moments till one of his friends suggested to him to contact the deputy commissioner’s office for an accurate forecast of the weather on the day of the wedding.

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The forecast said that it would be a clear day and Brar gleefully recalled that it turned out to be true and he had not made any arrangements for a waterproof pandal, which could cost about four times more. Meanwhile, the Patiala website launched by the district Administration recently has come as a boon to the cash strapped district Red Cross society. The Administration took a mere aid of Rs 500 from the Red Cross society to open a bank accounts. It developed a website with donations from philanthropists and industrial houses. With a few weeks of its existence, the Patiala website has already earned a revenue of about Rs 60,000.

According to the deputy commissioner, proceeds from the website were being utilised for welfare of the sick and needy through the district Red Cross society. He said that it was planned to build a Bhai Kanhaiya Red Cross HallBir said that the revenue from the website was expected to pick up considerably once advertisements about the facility were inserted in international papers. There was already an overwhelming response to the website from the people abroad with as many as 531 persons having visited the site so far. Most of these visitors were from countries, including the United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates. He said that vital information like weather, forecast, a directory of blood donors in the district, and a dossier on the villages in the district was readily available at website.

The deputy commissioner said that vital information, including details of eligible persons for grant of old-age pensions, shagun scheme, and widow pension was also available on the press of a button. Bir claimed that the Patiala had become the first district in the country to have developed such a website providing detailed information even about the villages in the district.