Delhi to try induced rain to fight bad air

The Delhi government will consider a proposal to carry out cloud seeding — a technique that induces artificial rain over an area — in a bid to tamp down the Capital’s severe pollution crisis, state environment minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Capital to attempt artificial rain?

A final decision will depend on receiving approvals and be based on meteorological factors, Rai said as extreme pollution levels cast a noxious haze over the Capital. Rai’s announcement came after a delegation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K)and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday met him and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and proposed to implement the pilot cloud-seeding project.

To be sure, there remain widespread doubts among the scientific community over the effectiveness of cloud-seeding as a practice to induce rain.

While Rai said that the government could attempt to implement the project around November 20 or November 21, he asked IIT-K to first submit a proposal to the Delhi government, which will be presented to the Supreme Court on Friday. The LG too has sought a proposal on the same from the delegation.