No rain in Delhi despite cloud seeding; loss of Rs 1.2 crore, Environment Minister explains reason

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s attempt to induce artificial rain through cloud seeding to curb air pollution has failed. On Tuesday, two rounds of cloud seeding were carried out in collaboration with IIT Kanpur at a cost of Rs 1.2 crore. Despite the heavy expenditure, the effort did not result in rainfall, drawing widespread criticism against the government. So far, the Delhi government has allocated a total of Rs 3.21 crore for five such experiments, with Rs 64 lakh earmarked for each attempt. Another round of cloud seeding is planned in the capital today.

Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa attributed the failure to low humidity levels. According to a report from IIT Kanpur, light rainfall was recorded in Noida and Greater Noida following the operation. Two aircraft were used for the process between Kanpur and Meerut. The first aircraft took off from IIT Kanpur at 12:13 p.m. and reached Meerut at 2:30 p.m. The second aircraft departed from Meerut at 3:45 p.m. and returned at 4:45 p.m.

The artificial rain project was launched to combat rising air pollution in the aftermath of Diwali. Cloud seeding involves dispersing silver iodide and sodium chloride particles into clouds to stimulate rainfall. However, following widespread violations of firecracker restrictions during Diwali, air quality in the city remains severely poor, with dense smog continuing to blanket Delhi’s skies.