Mumbai municipality to induce rains; activists call it a sham

torrential rains pounded Mumbai in the last week of June, but failed to help the city tide over the severe water shortage. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is now making frantic efforts to ease the crisis. On July 15, its standing committee decided to induce artificial rains through cloud seeding.

As per plan, cloud seeding will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase starting end of July, silver iodide will be burnt in the open air so that its smoke rises to the clouds and induces rain. If this fails to yield sufficient rainfall, then the second phase will be launched in August-September. An aircraft will fly to the height of the cloud and seed it with the silver iodide fumes.