Body formed on artificial rain to combat smog

LAHORE: As part of efforts to control smog, the Punjab government has formed a working group comprising representatives of relevant federal, provincial departments and military organisations to execute the project of artificial rain in City.

The decision to establish the working group was made in a meeting held at the Civil Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman.

The meeting reviewed the progress on the projects of artificial rain and installation of smog reduction towers in City. The administrative secretaries of various departments, including environment protection, agriculture, finance and officers concerned attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, the chief secretary said that the Punjab government was taking practical steps to prevent smog, adding that joint efforts were needed to control environmental pollution. He said that the cooperation of federal and military institutions in efforts to prevent smog in Punjab is commendable.

Officials of the Environmental Protection Department gave a briefing on cloud seeding and cloud ionisation methods for artificial rain. They said that the first trial for cloud seeding was expected in four to six weeks. They mentioned that the cloud seeding through a chemical process using aircraft was highly dependent on weather conditions and cloud formation.

The officials said that an MoU with a Dubai-based company was in the final stages, and in the next six weeks, a trial of cloud unionisation would be carried out at selected locations in the City through use of five systems to be provided by the company.

They said that a team of experts would visit China next month for the feasibility of installation of smog reduction towers in Lahore. They concluded that a monitoring cell was being established in the Environment Protection Department to monitor these important projects.