Following two unsuccessful cloud seeding trials, Manindra Agrawal, the Director of IIT Kanpur, has announced that future attempts to induce artificial rain in Delhi will be conducted once the clouds have a moisture content of at least 40-50 percent. This statement comes as the Delhi government temporarily halted the ongoing exercise due to insufficient moisture in the clouds.
Agrawal shared with ANI that while there’s no immediate prediction for the required moisture levels tomorrow, October 30, he remains optimistic that conditions could be favorable within the next three to four days.
“We are hoping for a cloud cover over the next 4-5 days and we have kept the aircraft ready in Meerut so that at short notice we can fly,” Agrawal stated. He further explained the operational constraints, noting that cloud seeding activities are typically limited to the eastern and northern parts of Delhi due to airport and VIP area restrictions in other zones. “We cannot go West or South because of the airport, and we can’t go to the Central area because of the VIP area,” he clarified.
Acknowledging the public’s anticipation and disappointment, Agrawal added, “It also depends on the wind speed and in which direction the wind is taking the clouds… I understand the disappointment in people because they were hoping and expecting it to rain. All I can say is we’ll keep trying, and we hope that we can get a good cloud cover and we can make it rain.”
The two initial trials, conducted in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, involved aircraft equipped with salt-based and silver iodide flares. Despite taking off on Tuesday and hovering over northwest Delhi, these efforts did not result in artificial rainfall. The cost incurred for these two trials was approximately ₹60 lakh, bringing the total expenditure for the initial cloud seeding phase to around ₹1.28 crore. The Delhi government had initially approved a budget of ₹3.21 crore for five such trials.
Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa indicated that the government plans to conduct an additional 9-10 trials in the coming days, contingent on favorable weather conditions.