Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said his government was open to considering the proposal for cloud seeding to trigger rains, and that a decision would be taken after discussions with the Finance department.
The Karnataka government has declared 223 out of the total 236 taluks as drought-hit.
Shivakumar was responding to Ranebennur Congress MLA Prakash Koliwad, who had requested the government to take up cloud seeding, during the Zero Hour in the assembly.
“Cloud seeding has been done in other states. It was experimented in our state too in the past. I am told that cloud seeding efforts in the constituency of our legislator Prakash have yielded good results. Our government is also open to take up…” he said.
Further, noting that procedural aspects such as tender and cost need to be factored in for the exercise, he said, “The cost of cloud seeding is said to be around Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, I will discuss it with Finance department and we will take a decision.” Koliwad said: “I have spoken to weathermen and scientists and they say that the next few days are good for cloud seeding as it would be cloudy. It is an opportune time to take up cloud seeding and the government should consider it positively at the earliest.”
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