Overview
- IIT Kanpur and the Delhi government conducted three attempts, including two sorties on October 28, which produced no rain in the capital and only trace precipitation in Noida and Greater Noida.
- Further operations have been paused after observed cloud moisture hovered around 10–20%, with IIT Kanpur saying sorties would resume only when moisture approaches 40–50%.
- An IIT-Delhi analysis of 2011–2021 conditions concludes suitable winter windows are rare and recommends against cloud seeding as a primary air-quality measure.
- Officials cited short-term PM2.5 and PM10 declines of roughly 6–11% after the trials, but independent scientists attribute the changes to evolving weather rather than seeding.
- Costs and oversight face new scrutiny, with about ₹60 lakh spent on two sorties, a ₹3.21 crore allocation for multiple trials, seasonwide estimates of ₹25–30 crore, and questions over an estimated ₹34 crore plan despite earlier IMD, CAQM and CPCB advice against winter seeding.