Do cloud seeding this year too, corporators tell BMC

Worried about the low levels in the lakes that supply drinking water to the city, corporators demanded that the municipal corporation considers conducting cloud seeding this year too.

Worried about the low levels in the lakes that supply drinking water to the city, corporators demanded that the municipal corporation considers conducting cloud seeding this year too.

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Corporators said last year the BMC had conducted aerial and ground methods of cloud seeding in August and, hence, the experiments didn’t yield results.

“This year, the BMC should conduct artificial rainfall augmentation techniques from July itself when the monsoon clouds are in the sky,” said BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar.

“We will consult the Indian Institute of Meteorology in Pune. We will submit a report of last year’s experiments and following their comment, will take a decision,” said Anil Diggikar, additional municipal commissioner.

Cloud seeding involves spreading either dry ice or silver iodide aerosols on the upper part of clouds to try to stimulate the precipitation process and form rain. Last year, the experiments were conducted over Modak Sagar and Tansa by a team from Agni Aviation, at a cost of Rs 8 crore.

“The BMC has not learnt any thing from the water crisis that affected the city last year. No measures have been taken to expedite alternative sources of supply,” said BJP corporator Ashish Shelar.