Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
New Delhi, October 28 (IANS) Delhi Forest and Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that with the help of IIT-Kanpur, two attempts were made to create artificial rain in the capital on Tuesday and similar efforts will continue in the coming days.
Highlighting the government’s efforts to use scientific measures to combat polluted air in Delhi, Sirsa told IANS, “Today, one attempt was made in the morning and another in the evening. The results are yet to be collated.”
The use of artificial rain is close to worsening the air quality around Diwali. The air quality index (AQI) in many areas of Delhi and NCR remains in the ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ category.
Cloud seeding involves adding chemicals such as silver iodide nanoparticles, iodized salt and dry ice to create rain in the atmosphere and is used in water-scarce areas or to reduce hail and clear fog.
IIT-Kanpur said its aircraft on Tuesday created a corridor about 25 nautical miles (46.3 km) long and four nautical miles (7.4 km) wide, with the largest distance covered between Khekra and Burari colonies.
The first round consisted of six flares released at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The second took off at 3.55 pm and deployed eight flares at an altitude of about 5,000 feet.
Sirsa said that for the first attempt, the aircraft entered the city from the direction of Meerut and opened fire over Burari, Karol Bagh and East Delhi.
He said IIT-Kanpur is also trying to test whether artificial rain can be induced in clouds with less than 20 percent moisture.
“We know that for successful cloud seeding we need at least 50 percent moisture content in the clouds, but IIT-Kanpur is trying to achieve something ‘historic’ even with low moisture content in the clouds,” he said.
With the inclusion of Tuesday’s two cloud seeding attempts, the number of tests conducted so far in Delhi has reached three, the minister said.
“Many such cloud seeding efforts will be made in the coming days,” he said.
IIT Kanpur Director Manish Aggarwal said that efforts to create artificial rain in the capital had been made earlier also, but it was not possible due to lack of necessary permission.
He said, “This time the green signal has been received from both the Delhi government and the Environment Ministry, due to which the experiment is more likely to be successful.”
He told that this technology can cause rain in a radius of about 100 kilometers, which will reduce air pollution significantly.
The IIT team had earlier completed all the technical preparations and conducted practice rehearsals.
According to experts, artificial rain will reduce the accumulation of dust, smoke and pollutants in the atmosphere, the air will be cleaned and there will be a lot of relief from pollution.
The Delhi Chief Minister first announced her government’s ambitious plans to rid the city of toxic air using scientific methods.
In the city’s first cloud seeding experiment to combat air pollution scientifically, CM Gupta said, “If conditions remain favourable, Delhi will receive its first artificial rain on October 29.”
“This initiative is not only historic from a technical point of view but is also set to establish a scientific methodology to tackle pollution in Delhi,” he said.
The Delhi government signed an MoU with IIT-Kanpur in September to conduct five cloud-seeding trials in northwest Delhi at a cost of Rs 3.21 crore. All five attempts are planned before November 30.
–IANS
rch/and