Karnataka Imports Special US Aircraft For Cloud Seeding To Beat Lack Of Monsoon Across State

When nature falls short in delivering its bountiful riches, human ingenuity has to try and fill the gaps as best as it can. Such is the situation in Karnataka.

Clearing decks for its ambitious cloud seeding project to end poor monsoon across the state, the Karnataka government is almost ready to launch the project. Having obtained almost all the clearances for the project, a special aircraft used for cloud seeding was flown in from the US and landed at Jakkur airfield on Monday.

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As the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department has tentatively decided to launch the project on August 18th, work on installation of a weather radar at the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK) is in full swing.

The cloud seeding project, to be taken up at three places including Bengaluru, Gadag and Yadgir, will cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 35 crore. The entire programme is based on scientific research and backed by theories of physics.

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“Previously, in 2003, the then state government had successfully taken up the project spanning 83-days at a cost of Rs 9 crore. The experiment then had resulted in good amount of rains,” a senior officer said.

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According to state minister?HK Patil, the installation of radars will be completed in a few days and then trials will be conducted to ascertain weather patterns.

Subsequently, the experts will determine and track the movement of clouds before tipping the aircraft about the possible location to take up cloud seeding.