NEW DELHI: A week after announcing that cloud-seeding trials will be discussed at the next Delhi cabinet meeting, a senior environment department official on Saturday said that Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur has been given the responsibility to execute the plan. Each cloud-seeding will cost around Rs 1.5 crore. If the proposal is approved, the government is expected to transfer funds directly to the institute. “They (IIT-K) have already worked on technical aspects. If the proposal gets cabinet approval, no-objection certificates will be sought from 13 departments whose permissions are required to conduct the trial. The government will do the funding,” the official said, adding that after the initial test run, scientific evaluations would be conducted.A total of 13 NOCs will be required from key agencies such as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Airports Authority of India.“Once approved, it will be shared with all relevant departments for no-objection certificates. We aim to conduct the first trial during peak summer on the outskirts of Delhi,” Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa had earlier said. He had also said that the government was ramping up its pollution control measures using advanced technologies such as digitisation, artificial intelligence-based monitoring, and 24×7 surveillance at pollution hotspots.What is cloud-seeding?An experiment to assess whether it can successfully enhance precipitation, potentially addressing water scarcity or improving air quality Involves introducing substances like silver iodide or dry ice into clouds Substances act as ‘nuclei’, providing a surface for water vapour to condense and form ice crystals, which can then grow into raindrops or snowflakesWhy Trials conducted Particularly useful in areas facing drought or water shortages Can increase snow accumulation, providing water source during spring melt Can be used to suppress hail formation Inducing rainfall can help to wash pollutants out of the atmosphere, potentially improving air quality
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