New Delhi: In a bid to mitigate air pollution in the national capital during winter, the Delhi government is mulling over the use of cloud seeding technology to induce artificial rain, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday (September 12). Minister Rai added that the government is preparing a separate action plan for each of the air pollution hotspots in the city. Minister Rai’s announcement came after his meeting with 24 environmental experts to discuss the ‘Winter Action Plan’ where scientists from IIT-Kanpur gave a presentation on inducing artificial rain in Delhi.
At this meeting, suggestions were also taken from 24 members and researchers from the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), and Environmental Defense Fund, among others. Minister Rai said,
The experts brainstormed ways to reduce vehicular pollution, dust pollution, biomass burning, and other kinds of pollution. Scientists from IIT-Kanpur gave a presentation on inducing artificial rain in Delhi and the costs involved. We have requested them to prepare a detailed presentation which will be shown to the chief minister. We will certainly consider this idea.
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Experts have, earlier as well, submitted similar proposals on artificial rain to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he added.
The minister said the experts have also suggested preparing a separate winter action for the air pollution hotspots to deal with their respective pollution sources. The pollution hotspots in Delhi are located at Anand Vihar, Wazirabad, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Ashok Vihar, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Rohini, Bawana, Narela, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, RK Puram and Okhla Phase 2.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
