A historic initiative has been taken to tackle pollution in Delhi. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced on Thursday that preparations for cloud seeding (artificial rain) for the first time in the capital have been completed. Its successful testing has also been done.
CM Rekha Gupta It was reported on X (formerly Twitter) that experts have successfully tested cloud seeding in Burari area. According to the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of adequate presence of clouds in Delhi-NCR on 28, 29 and 30 October. If weather conditions remain favourable, Delhi may experience its first artificial rain on October 29.
He described it as an important step in the history of Delhi from technical and scientific point of view. Rekha Gupta said, “This initiative is not only historic from the technological point of view, but is also going to establish a scientific way to deal with pollution in Delhi. The government’s aim is to make the air of the capital clean and the environment balanced through this innovation.”
Congratulating the team engaged in this project, the Chief Minister said that Cabinet colleague Manjinder Singh Sirsa and all concerned officers have played an important role in making this effort successful.
Trial flight conducted in these areas
According to news agency ANI, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that a trial seeding flight was conducted from IIT Kanpur via Meerut, Khekra, Burari, Sadakpur, Bhojpur, Aligarh to Delhi and back to IIT Kanpur, in which cloud seeding flares were fired using pyro technology between Khekra and Burari and over the cloudy area. This was a test flight to check cloud seeding capabilities, aircraft readiness and capability, assessment of cloud seeding fitting and capability of flares and coordination between all concerned agencies.
What is cloud seeding?
Cloud seeding is a climate changing technique. In this, water droplets are added to moist clouds by adding chemicals, so that they become heavy and rain. This is different from normal rain, because here humans help. This is to clean pollution in Delhi. The cost of the project is ₹3.21 crore, which is being jointly run by IIT Kanpur, IMD and Delhi Government.
The plane with which there is talk of creating artificial rain in Delhi will have 8-10 chemical packets attached to it, which will be blasted by pressing a button. Delhi’s project is based on five modified Cessna aircraft. Each plane will fly for 90 minutes. This rain will wash away the smoke, dust and poisonous particles and the people of the capital will air pollution Will get relief from.
When did artificial rain occur in India?
Artificial rain has been made in Western Ghats in 1951, in Karnataka in 2003-2004-2019, in Maharashtra in 2004, in Andhra Pradesh in 2008 and thrice in Tamil Nadu. Artificial rain was made to deal with drought in these states. This means that the experiment of artificial rain in Delhi-NCR will not be done for the first time in the country.
The first attempt at artificial rain in India was made by the Tata firm in 1951 using a ground-based silver iodide generator on the Western Ghats.
What is the method of making artificial rain?
Cloud seeding is a scientific method of changing the weather to cause artificial rainfall. Under this, rain is made artificially. For this, planes are passed through clouds and silver iodide, dry ice and chloride are released from them.
Due to this, water drops freeze in the clouds. These water drops then become rain and fall on the ground. However, this is possible only when sufficient amount of clouds are already present in the atmosphere and there is moisture in the air. That means at least 40 percent water with the same amount of clouds.
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