AP to take up cloud seeding in Aug

Hyderabad, July 21: Worried over the Southwest monsoon not bringing sufficient rains, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has announced that the State Government would take up cloud seeding programme from August.

''Though the Union Government has, in principle, approved a joint cloud seeding programme involving various states, including Karnataka, and Maharashtra, the programme is unlikely to get started this year with the way things are moving at the Centre. ''Hence, the State will go on its own with the cloud seeding programme from August 15 at a cost of Rs 17 crore as done in the previous years,'' he told a press conference here last night after a review of the drought contingency programme.

Crops were sown only in 28 lakh hectares against normal 42 lakh hectares so far. Those sown in over 3.50 lakh hectares had already withered as the state had received 34 per cent deficit rainfall, with the shortfall ranging between 20 to 60 per cent in 20 of the 23 districts, he informed.

''We are ready with the contingency plan and watching the situation closely. I am sure the rain god will not fail us.'' The encouraging aspect was that the combined storage in the reservoirs in the state was 650 TMC ft, 200 TMC ft more than last year, he added.

UNI