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Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday informed that a designated area in the national capital will witness artificial rain through cloud seeding as soon as the weather department approves, possibly a day after Diwali.
While addressing a presser here, Sirsa said that the Delhi government has "got everything" needed to carry out cloud seeding. "When the Meteorological Department gives us the green signal in the next 2-3 days, a sample of the cloud seeding will be taken after blasting/spraying it. We're waiting for clouds to appear soon. The day after Diwali, or the next day, whenever the weather department gives us permission, we will do it. Whenever they give us permission, we'll take a plane and get permission to fly within three hours. We've already got everything we need to do the cloud seeding," Sirsa said. He said that two pilots have already familiarised themselves with the area during a four-day trial. "About cloud seeding, we have all the requested permissions and have already trained our pilots. Both pilots of this plane conducted a trial over the area where the trial is to be conducted. In this trial, they familiarised themselves with the area and the plane. This entire training process has been ongoing for the past 4 days, and has been successful so far," Sirsa added. This announcement comes months after Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta stated that the national capital would experience its first artificial rain "very soon" with the help of cloud seeding techniques. For cloud seeding and artificial rain, an MoU was signed with IIT Kanpur as a pilot project. Delhi has been battling with air pollution for years, and governments have discussed mitigating it through experimentation with the cloud seeding technique, a weather modification method. Earlier in May, the Delhi cabinet passed a historic decision to conduct cloud seeding, also known as artificial rain, in the national capital to mitigate pollution. Pollution has been a serious concern for the state for some time, and to help curb it, the cabinet has taken a significant step in partnership with IIT Kanpur, according to a member. Pollution remains a pressing concern in Delhi, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) often reaching very poor levels. Although several projects have been undertaken in the past to address this issue, none have provided a lasting solution to Delhi's pollution problem. (ANI)
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