Parched Maharashtra opts for cloud seeding again

Faced with a crippling drought in parts of the state, the Maharashtra government is reviving its weather modification and aerial cloud seeding experiment.

To that end, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 30-crore plan for the project.

The artificial rain project — which the state last experimented with in 2015 — is an ameliorative measure to overcome the deficient rains and water scarcity wherein dry ice or silver iodide is introduced into clouds to aid precipitation and rainfall.

This will be targeted at rainfall deficit areas in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Western Maharashtra. This time round, the weather modification exercise will see a C-band Doppler radar and fixed-wing aircraft being stationed at Aurangabad. Revenue minister Chandrakantdada Patil said they would focus on inducing rainfall in the catchment areas of dams to tide over water shortage. Tenders will soon be floated to attract bidders for the experiment.

Patil added that similar experiments had been conducted in states like Karnataka and Gujarat.

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 had recorded increased precipitation and rainfall at circle headquarters but added that for a long-term impact, this needed to be conducted over a sustained period of time.

Journalist-author Atul Deulgaonkar, a member of the state disaster management authority, too stressed it was necessary to conduct these experiments for a longer duration.