Cloud seeding experiment using drones near Jaipur called off due to technical snag

Jaipur, Aug 12 (PTI) India's first AI-powered drone cloud seeding operation in Rajasthan's Ramgarh near Jaipur had to be called off on Tuesday due to technical snags and regulatory limitations.

Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Kirodi Meena informed that the exercise would be carried out within a month again.

Hundreds of villagers from nearby areas thronged the dam site, eagerly waiting to see the drones in action, but as anticipation built, the skies remained dry.

Rakesh Agrawal, founder of GenXAI- the tech company leading the project- said that the drone lost its GPS signal amid a dense crowd and high mobile network interference, which made the demonstration unsafe to execute.

"There was a huge crowd and multiple phone networks were active in the area. This interfered with the drone's GPS connectivity," Agrawal said.

He said that permission to fly the drone was limited to 400 feet, which further restricted the operation.

"We are expecting clearance for higher altitude flights within a week. A fresh attempt will be made in the coming days," he informed.

The demonstration was scheduled by GenXAI in partnership with climate-tech firm Accel1 in the presence of Minister Kirodi Meena.

It aimed to use drones and artificial intelligence to seed clouds and induce rainfall over drought-prone and now empty Ramgarh Lake, which was once Jaipur's key water source.

Located around 30 kilometre northeast of Jaipur, Ramgarh lake once used to be a major water source for the city but has remained dry for nearly two decades due to reasons like encroachment in the catchment area.

With traffic piling up on the narrow dam road and people crowding around for a glimpse of the high-tech experiment, policemen deployed in the area struggled to manage the situation.

"I came all the way from my village to see it rain from a drone. We waited but nothing happened," Mukesh Meena, a local said.

Later, when the crowd returned, the drone was flown in presence of Meena to demonstrate how the original exercise would be carried within a month.

The minister said that an unexpected crowd gathered, leading to a network jam and GPS signal loss.

"As a result, the drone switched to auto-landing mode and landed safely," he added.

Meena said the crowd was moved to a safe distance and the GPS signal was restored following which the drone successfully flew up to 400 feet.

He also informed that artificial rainfall will be carried out using the technology within a month. PTI SDA OZ OZ