The state government's cloud seeding and precipitation enhancement project, which aims at inducing rains in the parched regions of Maharashtra, will finally take off at the end of this month.
In May, the state Cabinet had granted its approvals to the Rs 31 crore weather modification and aerial cloud seeding project, with which it has experimented in the past.
This is an ameliorative measure to overcome the deficient rainfall and resultant agrarian distress and water scarcity.
Cloud seeding involves introducing dry ice or silver iodide into clouds to stimulate and aid precipitation and rainfall.
"At present, we are in the process of getting the mandatory permissions for the project from the various Central government departments. The Doppler radar and modified plane to be used in the experiment will be sourced from abroad. We are hoping to launch the project from the last week of July," said a senior state government official.
"The rains have been delayed this year and we hope to tap into the peak of the monsoon season," he explained.
The specialised C-band Doppler radar and fixed-wing aircraft to be used in the exercise will be stationed at Aurangabad with the equipment and crew consisting of pilots and meteorologists. "We will also use the IMD's (India Meteorological Department) Doppler radars at Mumbai and Nagpur and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology's (IITM) Doppler radar at Solapur for the purpose. The project will be located centrally to help cover the entire state, especially areas like Marathwada, Vidarbha and parts of western Maharashtra, like Ahmednagar, which have experienced deficient rainfall. We will also focus on inducing rainfall in the catchment areas of dams and reservoirs," the official said.
The Pune-based IITM is conducting such artificial rain experiments in Solapur district under it's Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX). Maharashtra has experimented with cloud seeding and artificial rainfall in the past.
In 2015, the state government had launched a similar artificial rain project worth Rs 28 crore.
This had covered Marathwada, which is suffering from scanty rainfall and severe drought, and parts of Ahmednagar district.
Officials claimed that these experiments recorded 20% higher rainfall, but added that for a long-term impact, this needed to be conducted on mission-mode over a sustained period of time instead of launching one-off attempts.
In 2003, like neighbouring Karnataka, the Maharashtra government approved a project— 'Prakalpa Varsha' —covering parched areas like Satara, Solapur, Pune, Sangli and Ahmednagar.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted a cloud seeding experiment in 2009. The Andhra Pradesh government has also conducted these operations in the past.
Cloud seeding experiments have also been conducted in Maharashtra in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s. Such experiments conducted abroad have led to rainfall increasing by 28 to 43%.
ARTIFICIAL RAINMAKING
Project will be located centrally to help cover entire state
- Cloud seeding involves introducing dry ice or silver iodide into clouds to stimulate and aid precipitation and rainfall
- Cloud seeding experiments have also been conducted in Maharashtra in the 1970s and 1980s
- In May, the state Cabinet had granted its approvals to the Rs 31 crore weather modification and aerial cloud seeding project
- The BMC had conducted a cloud seeding experiment in 2009
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