The solution to Lahore’s smog is not artificial rain

Lahore And New Delhi competes every day to be the number one among the most polluted cities in the world.

Sometimes Lahore comes first and sometimes New Delhi. On both sides of it Smog The reasons are the same, which only boils down to one point that there is ‘bad governance’ on both sides, otherwise there are bigger cities in the world, more industrial and agricultural development and more vehicles than these cities. are also

All methods of getting rid of smog are either time-consuming or expensive. The Punjab government has been considering the project of getting artificial rain in Lahore for the past few days.

Independent Urdu has spoken to experts who have been involved in artificial rain experiments in Pakistan in the past to find out how feasible and beneficial artificial rain is and how artificial rain can be used to alleviate Lahore’s smog. Is rain an option or not?

When was artificial rain first experimented in Pakistan?

From 1999 to 2003, there was an atmosphere of famine in the southern parts of Pakistan, including Balochistan. As all water bodies dried up, animals started dying in large numbers, forcing people to leave their homes and migrate.

The government set up emergency camps in the affected areas as well as artificial rain to alleviate the drought. Department of Meteorology Assigned the task to

The Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics is functioning in Karachi under the auspices of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, from which the officers of the Meteorological Department are trained in methods of artificial rainfall in addition to weather forecasting, so when the Govt. When he was given this task, the Meteorological Department supported him.

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At that time, Dr. Qamar-ul-Zaman used to be the Director General (DG) of Meteorological Department. He did this impossible task with all his energy within the limited resources.

Independent Urdu contacted Meteorologist Dr Muhammad Hanif, who was part of the team at the time, who gave details, saying that it was in the summer of 2001-02 when the Meteorological Department, with the help of the Army Aviation, conducted a drought forecast. Experiments with artificial rainfall were conducted in limited areas in various parts of Pakistan, including North Balochistan, Cholistan, Thar and Potohar, with some good and some poor results.

According to Muhammad Hanif: ‘The method is that when the clouds are in the sky, sodium chloride and other chemicals are sprayed on these clouds and this process is carried out with the help of planes and helicopters in these areas.

‘This requires a flight of two to six hours, which costs a lot of capital. Another thing is that according to environmental experts, when you spray chemicals on clouds and force them to rain, it has negative effects on the health of crops and animals, so the Meteorological Department stopped these experiments.

There is another interesting reason for stopping experiments.

Children going to school during heavy smog in Lahore on November 30, 2021 (AFP)

Another senior officer of the Meteorological Department, who has been involved in the process, also made some shocking revelations in a conversation with Independent Urdu on condition of anonymity, which forced the Meteorological Department to stop the process. was done

He said that in total 48 experiments of artificial rainfall were conducted in Pakistan, out of which 32 were successful, but then this series was suddenly stopped, which was due to two reasons. For one thing, some influential landlords who were also members of parliament started demanding that artificial rain was being applied to the lands of their opponents and those who were part of the government were deprived of it. being kept

“It was not technically possible to fulfill their demand because wherever there is a cloud, there will be ‘cloud seeding’.” Where there are no clouds at all, how can it rain? Then the second problem arose that some influential scholars not only described this practice in the media as interference in divine affairs, but also called us and threatened us that if this practice is not stopped immediately, whatever the consequences may be. can

On the one hand, there were scholars, who strongly opposed it, on the other hand, news came from Sanghar that the Hindu community there was so happy with the artificial rain that they made an idol of the chief officer of the Meteorological Department and placed it in the temple. And his pooja has also been started.

‘Since I received direct threats, the department sent me to another country on deputation. This is how this series stopped.’

In this Dec. 28, 2022 photo, an Orange Line metro train is seen on its track in Lahore, with smog dominating the city’s atmosphere.(AFP/Arif Ali)

Is artificial rain the solution to Lahore’s smog?

“Lahore’s smog occurs in winter,” says Dr. Muhammad Hanif, “which has very limited possibilities for artificial rainfall, as two methods of artificial rainfall have so far been found to be effective, and both produce results in spring and summer.” Better meet.

‘The first of these methods is cloud seeding, in which clouds are sprayed with sodium chloride and a few other chemicals to make them rain.

‘This is an old technology that has been abandoned because it is not environmentally friendly and has been replaced by a new technology, which is the origin of Russia. This is called cloud ionization.

In this, light clouds are converted into heavy clouds by generating a negative charge from the ground through a high-power generator. In the presence of adequate moisture in the air, rain can easily be produced by this process.’

He said that in many countries of the world it is raining with the help of this technology and it is also being used to increase the water reserves. The catchment area of ​​dams can be filled by raining them.

Spring and summer are the best seasons in Pakistan for both old and new technology. Its chances of encouraging results in winter are limited, so artificial rain against the backdrop of Lahore’s smog may not be beneficial because it is not really artificial rain but rather an extension of modern term rain. technology is used.

If there are clouds in the sky, rain can be made. In winter, the clouds are less and when they come, it rains by itself, so this option may not be effective for smog relief in Lahore.