Plans Afoot To Hold Cloud-Seeding Trials

The Delhi government is hopeful of conducting a pilot cloud-seeding trial by the month-end, environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Wednesday, pointing out that barring a few technical clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Delhi government has received approval for the project.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

The ministry of defence has allowed the government to fly a plane for the project from the Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad.

Sirsa said once the final clearance is in place, the government will seek a six-hour plan from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which will analyse moisture content in the air, geographical spread of clouds and their density in the Capital.

"The good news is that the permissions we needed from the agencies and central government departments have all been received, barring a few technical clearances from DGCA, which should be in by next week," Sirsa said.

"We have already spoken to IMD and they will share with us a deep analysis of the atmospheric conditions. These sixhour plans will basically tell us when to fly the plane and in which areas we have suitable moisture and conditions to do cloud-seeding," Sirsa said.