Delhi gives third cloud seeding sortie a miss; Minister doubles down, says pollution reduced in previous trials

The minister said the experiment formed part of the government’s larger pollution-control framework that includes strict enforcement, road sweeping, emission checks, and waste management measures. “The momentum we see today is due to a holistic approach — our government stands firmly behind evidence-based interventions that benefit every resident,” he added.

Director Manindra Agrawal of IIT-Kanpur — a team from the IIT had conducted the two rounds of cloud seeding trials — on Wednesday said that the operation, though it did not produce rainfall, provided “useful information” and showed limited reductions in particulate matter. “The moisture content in the clouds was only around 15%. With such low moisture content, the possibility of producing rain is very low. We did not achieve success from that perspective, but we got a lot of useful information,” he said in a video statement.

Agrawal added that the overall cost of the two trials — conducted over 300 sq km in areas such as Burari, Mayur Vihar, and north Karol Bagh — was about Rs 60 lakh, or around Rs 20,000 per sq km. “If the trials are conducted over the entire winter season, and it is assumed that clouds could be seen once in 10 days, the cost would come to around Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore. In the overall scheme of things, this is not a very big amount. The money spent on pollution control in Delhi is quite huge,” he said.

Delhi on Wednesday recorded an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 279, in the ‘Poor’ category, slightly better than 294 recorded a day earlier.

Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) for Air Quality Management has not been updated since October 26, when the contribution of stubble burning as a pollutant was minimal at 1.86%, while transport remained the major pollutant at 13.76%, followed by emissions from Ghaziabad (10.6%).

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