The Delhi government on Tuesday announced that it is considering using cloud seeding technology to create artificial rain in an effort to reduce air pollution in the national capital during the winter. The Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said that the government is preparing a separate action plan for each of the air pollution hotspots in the city.
The announcement from Rai came after he held a meeting with 24 environmental experts to discuss the 'Winter Action Plan' where scientists from IIT-Kanpur gave a presentation on inducing artificial rain in Delhi.
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Suggestions were also taken from 24 members and researchers from the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), and Environmental Defense Fund, among others who were present in the meeting.
"The experts brainstormed ways to reduce vehicular pollution, dust pollution, biomass burning, and other kinds of pollution. Scientists from IIT-Kanpur gave a presentation on inducing artificial rain in Delhi and the costs involved. We have requested them to prepare a detailed presentation which will be shown to the chief minister. We will certainly consider this idea," Rai said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
He stated that experts had previously made similar recommendations to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on manufactured rain. Experts have also suggested preparing a separate winter action for the air pollution hotspots to deal with their respective pollution sources, the minister added.
Anand Vihar, Wazirabad, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Ashok Vihar, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Rohini, Bawana, Narela, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, RK Puram, and Okhla Phase 2 are the areas of Delhi with the highest levels of air pollution.
(With Inputs From Agency)