The Hindu : Maharashtra to try cloud-seeding

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Sunday, Aug 24, 2003

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Maharashtra to try cloud-seeding

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI AUG. 23. Maharashtra has taken a cue from neighbouring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to attempt cloud-seeding in seven districts which are reeling under water shortage despite excessive rain in other parts of the State. The districts are: Solapur, Sangli, Nasik, Pune, Ahmednagar, Beed and Osmanabad.

A Rs. 4.5-crore contract is being awarded to the U.S.-based Weather Modification Company.

The effort is to start from September 2, according to a Cabinet decision on Friday.

While Andhra Pradesh has just taken up the move, Karnataka apparently has had a mixed outcome. The Maharashtra experiment is, as an official put it, "more hope, less expectation".

According to the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, New Delhi, told the State Government that the move could increase the rainfall by 15 to 24 per cent. "Instead of going in for bids we chose to sign a contract because the clouds would vanish if we go through normal procedures."

Mr. Shinde conceded that the State Government waited for the situation to improve but in vain. In the affected areas, there were about 2.6 lakh heads of cattle in camps and to feed them, Rs. 1 crore a day was being spent. "So, Rs. 4.5 crores laced with hope is not a big sum," Mr. Shinde said, adding that he had asked the Prime Minister for an assistance of Rs. 370 crores.

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