BELAGAVI: To help farmers affected by drought in Belagavi district, Belagavi Sugars Private Ltd on Friday carried out cloud seeding operations. The 3-day operation was launched at Sambra airport in Belagavi under the supervision of PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, who runs the sugar factory. Satish said that it took him 20 days to obtain approval from the Union Government to go ahead with cloud seeding.
On Friday, the operation was conducted in the skies of Gokak and Khanapur regions, and will be done in other parts of the district over the weekend. Cloud seeding would be held for three hours daily. Satish said it would be great if it rained in the dry areas of Belagavi district after cloud seeding.
If successful, cloud seeding would be taken up in areas in the Cauvery basin like Madkeri and Hassan by Belagavi Sugars Private Ltd if approval is given by the government, he added. MLA Prakash Koliwad said the recent cloud seeding in Haveri district resulted in 5 to 30 mm rainfall.
The aircraft is piloted by Captain Veerendra Singh and Captain Adarsh Pande. To tap the clouds at a lower height, CACL-2 iodide would be sprayed and for clouds in altitude 20,000ft and above, silver iodide would be sprayed.