Comments
Forecast of a normal monsoon notwithstanding, drought affected Karnataka proposes to go ahead with a cloud seeding exercise during the early part of the four-month rainy season starting June.
The state has prepared a detailed project report and expects to come out with a global tender soon to carry out the cloud seeding exercise, said Agriculture Minister, Krishna Byre Gowda.
"The forecast of a normal monsoon is good news but we don't want to take any chances," Byre Gowda said. The state would float the tender within a month to carry out the exercise sometime during July-August this year. A draft bid document is being prepared and the state has hired a former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meterology as consultant to carry out the exercise, Byre Gowda said.
Impacted by deficient rainfall, Karnataka has been reeling under severe drought for the fourth consecutive year in a row. The state has declared 160 of its 176 taluks as drought affected. The state budget for 2017-18 has provided Rs 30 crore for carrying out the cloud seeding exercise in the drought affected areas. Cloud seeding is a kind of weather modification procedure that attempts to enhance the amount of precipitation from the clouds.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.