Monsoon woes: Karnataka govt to take up cloud seeding

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said it would take up cloud seeding by the end of June, amid reports forecasting deficit rainfall.

The government has already called for tenders for two years and will spend an estimated Rs 88 crore for the purpose.

“In newspapers we are seeing that in 2019 there is a possibility of deficit rainfall. We have already taken precautionary measures regarding this for 2019-20 and 2020-21-for two years we have decided to implement cloud seeding,” Rural Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said.

He said the government would award the tender in a week to 10 days.

Pointing out that cloud seeding earlier used to be done by August, by which time the monsoon would have almost ended, Gowda said that to avoid it, the government decided this time to go for the exercise at the onset of the monsoon.

There will be two centres at Bengaluru and Hubbali for cloud seeding, with two aircraft, he said.

“If there is good rain in one region, the centre there can be shifted as additional centre to where there is lack of rain. It will also be based on cloud cover,” he said.