Ahead of smog season, Delhi writes to Centre, pushes for ‘cloud seeding’ to combat air pollution

With Diwali and winter approaching, Delhi’s pollution levels are expected to soar in November. Delhi’s Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, has urged immediate action, including the use of cloud seeding, to address the city’s serious air pollution problem.

Rai has appealed to the central government to convene an urgent meeting with key parties to expedite the approval process for cloud seeding, a technique aimed at curbing the anticipated rise in pollution levels during the winter.

“We have already experienced a delay of approximately one month in the efforts for cloud seeding in Delhi and with air quality likely to deteriorate to ‘hazardous’ levels by early November, I once again request you to immediately convene meetings with all relevant stakeholders,” Rai wrote in his letter to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.

This year, during the monsoon season, Delhi experienced 62% more rainfall than usual, with Safdarjung, the city’s primary weather station, recording 1029.9mm. While heavy rains typically help reduce pollution by washing away the topsoil, the average PM2.5 concentration in Delhi and parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) was the highest seen during this period since 2021, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Last year, the Delhi government considered cloud seeding as a method to address pollution, with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur advocating for its potential advantages. However, progress has been slowed by delays in obtaining necessary approvals from central authorities.

Cloud seeding involves artificially generating rainfall to remove pollutants from the atmosphere and has been suggested as a temporary solution to the city’s persistent smog, the letter said.

“We are prepared to take up cloud seeding to combat air pollution, but we need clearances from central departments to proceed,” Rai said, urging the Union Environment Minister to facilitate a meeting with all stakeholders to speed up the approval process.

Experts suggest that pollution could be managed by inducing artificial rain through cloud seeding, a weather modification process that uses silver iodide (AgI) to assist the formation of ice crystals, enhancing the cloud’s ability to produce rain. IIT Kanpur has a specially modified aircraft equipped with cloud-seeding technology to carry out this operation.

(With inputs from agencies)