Date:23/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/04/23/stories/2005042310000400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Cloud-seeding operations from June 10, to end on October 10

Special Correspondent

Exercise to be undertaken in 123 days

HYDERABAD: Bangalore-based Agni Aviation has been selected again for undertaking cloud-seeding operations in the State. The operations will start from June 10 and conclude on October 10.

This time, the payment will be Rs. 24.8 crores for one monsoon (South-West) compared to Rs. 22 crores last year when two monsoons were covered.

Four firms participated in the tenders called for this year's operations and Agni Aviation was selected by a committee headed by T. Vijaya Kumar of the Rain-Shadow Area Development Department.

The committee comprises officials from four other connected departments, a meteorologist from the State Meteorological Office at Begumpet here and another official from WALAMTARI.

M. C. Pagaien, Joint Secretary, RSAD Department, told The Hindu here on Friday that the firm would undertake the operations for 123 days keeping in mind the recommendations made by the international workshop on the subject conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University here recently which insisted on tuning the operations to suit the weather conditions in the State.

Accordingly, seeding would be done on "warm clouds."

Two radars

He said the firm would use two pressurised aircraft to precipitate warm clouds and one non-pressurised one for "basic seeding."

There would be two radars, one at Anantapur and another near Hyderabad.

The selection of Agni Aviation was not without a controversy. Representatives of the other firms complained that the bid offered by Agni Aviation was "very high" but yet the officials favoured it for the reasons best known to them.