Delhiites woke up to a hazy morning with cloudy skies on Wednesday, following the failed attempt to induce rain through cloud seeding in parts of the capital. The city’s air quality remained in the ‘very
poor’ category several areas reporting the air quality index (AQI) above 300 mark.
According to the latest data, AQI at Anand Vihar was recorded at 307. Similarly, ITO recorded AQI at 307, Akshardham stood at 307, while the AQI at India Gate stood in the moderate category with 282.
After nearly 53 years, Delhi conducted cloud seeding trials to induce artificial rain as pollution levels surged. Meanwhile, the weather department ruled out any trace of rain on the horizon.
The Delhi government, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, conducted the trials in parts of Delhi, including Burari, north Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar, and Badli, with more such exercises planned over the next few days, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said.
Later, in the evening, the government in a report, said that the cloud seeding trials helped in the reduction of particulate matter at locations where the exercise was carried out even as conditions were not ideal for it. The government added that the moisture content predicted by the IMD and other agencies remained low at 10-15 per cent, which is not an ideal condition for cloud seeding.
As there were no signs of rain, the Opposition AAP mocked the exercise, calling it the BJP’s tactic to “steal Lord Indra’s (rain god’s) credit”, even as the ruling party hailed the move to tackle the pollution crisis.
Political Slugfest Begins
Soon after the cloud seeding process did not give the expected results, the Aam Aadmi Party was quick in responding and termed the Delhi BJP government’s experiment a “big fraud”. The party further attacked the BJP, stating that it is attempting to steal the credit of (Hindu rain god) Lord Indra if actual rain happens.
In a statement, AAP’s Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the BJP government has “committed fraud even in the name of rain”.
Citing data from IMD that confirmed no rainfall anywhere in Delhi on Tuesday, Bharadwaj said, “The BJP government is claiming to have carried out artificial rainfall, but not a single drop fell anywhere in the city.” Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar and Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha also confirmed that there was no rain in their constituencies.
“It seems even Lord Indra is upset with the BJP,” Bharadwaj remarked, pointing out that there was no trace of rain in Central Delhi either.
Adding to Bharadwaj’s statement, AAP Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “The weather department predicts rain today or tomorrow. So now the BJP wants to take credit for this natural rain, calling it ‘artificial rain’. When the AAP government was in power in Delhi, we implemented many long- and short-term measures to address pollution year-round. We developed winter and summer action plans.”
Questioning the BJP, she said, “What does the BJP do? It shuts down monitors to manipulate AQI readings… Have they developed summer and winter action plans?…”
