Salt-loaded aircraft to create artificial rain to check pollution

LUCKNOW / KANPUR : Move over rain gods as UP government and IIT Kanpur woll come together to fly an aircraft into the skies of Lucknow and seed clouds for creating artificial rains to bring down pollution levels in the state capital any time soon.
Top sources in the department of UP civil aviation department confirmed to TOI that IIT-K has agreed to modify its six-seater Cessna aircraft to load it with salt for being dropped on the high altitude `supercooled' clouds.A proposal to this effect will be sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) next week,'' said a senior official in civil aviation department.
An approval from the DGCA is always required whenever something is dropped from the aircraft, said a senior official in the civil aviation department. Sources said that the state government has also agreed to back the proposed modification in the aircraft of IIT-K. The exercise, conducted perhaps for the first time in UP, will also require an approval of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) as it involves an atmospheric layer.
Acting Director, IITKanpur, Prof Manindra Agarwal told TOI, "We have developed technology for conducting artificial rain after UP government approached us a few months back for giving a solution for the same. We have also received permission from Envionment ministry for cloud seeding, the permission from Aviation ministry is awaited. Approval from Environment ministry came today only." He also confirmed that several trials and experiments had been going on using Cessna aircraft and the same would be used when asked to do cloud seeding by the government.
"We have all required expertise and equipment to make artificial rain happen. Cloud combination probe (a device) which is installed on an aircraft and Microwave radio Meter installed on ground — are two such equipment which can cause artificial rain. We have both with us along with several other equipments for conducting rain. If we are asked to do artificial rainfall by the government we are completely ready for it", said Sachchida Nand Tripathi, senior professor and environmentalist in the department of Civil Engineering Department and Department of Earth Sciences.
He, however, said that the modification is required to be done in an aircraft for conducting artificial rain. He said that there are aircraft which have pre-installed equipment for conducting cloud seeding but such aircraft cost too much and therefore, by way of modification, this installation work can be done at a cheaper cost. “At IIT-Kanpur, we do not have a modified aircraft for this very purpose but the modification can be done. For conducting rain certification from DGCA is required,” Prof Tripathi told TOI. The development comes two days after CM Aditya Nath Yogi asked government officials to consult IIT for conducting artificial rains.