Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has said the State government is consulting a Pune-based company for technical inputs on initiating cloud seeding in the State.
He was addressing presspersons after chairing a review meeting on drought relief works, at the Circuit House in Hubli on Sunday evening.
Mr. Shettar said the consultation would be completed in two to three days. Depending on its outcome, tenders would be floated for cloud seeding and within 20 days the process would be completed, he said.
To a query, he said that according to meteorological experts the present climatic conditions were not suitable for cloud seeding. The State government had been advised to wait for two to three weeks.
On the drought situation in Dharwad district, Mr. Shettar said drinking water was being supplied through tankers to 15 villages. Ten more villages had been identified for supplying water through tankers, he said.
He said the next Cabinet meeting would consider the issue of crop loan waiver in the wake of drought.
MP Pralhad Joshi, Hubli Dharwad Mayor Pandurang Patil, Chairman of the Karnataka Bal Vikas Academy Mahesh Tenginakai, Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Darpan Jain and senior officials of the district administration took part in the review meeting.
Source: The New Indian Express, July 16, 2012