Amid rain, floods, cloud-seeding goes on silently in NK

Amid torrential rain and floods, cloud-seeding, under Varshadhare project, was silently carried out since August 1 in north Karnataka districts.

Special aircraft procured for the cloud-seeding has flown from Hubballi airport through the rain-bearing clouds, for 50 days, to enhance precipitation in the north Karnataka districts.

During the said period, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura districts have received less than the average annual rain while Belagavi, Gadag and Ballari districts experienced above-average rainfall. Similarly, cloud-seeding was also carried out in a few south Karnataka districts.

Based on the information on the density of clouds from Gadag and Surpur radar centres, operations were carried out.

So far, 194 hours of cloud-seeding has been carried out in the state, mostly in north Karnataka.

Interestingly, the amounts of rain recorded at Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC)during the period are being considered as the precipitation induced by cloud-seeding. According to the figures available with KSNDMC, only four days are no-rain days while the remaining days recorded rainfall of 6 mm to 58 mm.

On Sept 19, cloud-seeding operations were carried out in Jamkhandi and Bilagi taluks in Bagalkot district and in Indi taluk in Vijayapura. On the said day (Thursday), most parts of Bagalkot district received showers. But it is not known whether the precipitation was due to cloud-seeding or weather conditions.

MANJUNATH,NODAL OFFICER, VARSHADHARE said, "Kyathi Climate Modification Consultant has bagged the contract for cloud-seeding for Rs 45 crore. As per the agreement, the company has to carry out cloud-seeding for 400 hours in 90 days. It is conducting operations for 4 to 6 days a week."

What's Project Varshadhare?

Project Varshadhare, is a cloud seeding project, flagged off by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2017 to enhance the amount of precipitation from the rain-bearing clouds in the parched districts. Under the project, special aircraft will disperse the chemical silver iodide as they fly through clouds that will trigger and enhance the precipitation.