Madurai
With rains failing the State and no perennial rivers in Tamil Nadu, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday asked both the Centre and the State to respond to queries on whether there was a possibility of bringing rains through artificial methods. The court asked the respondents to reply on April 4.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar asked the Centre and State to respond to whether modern methods like ‘cloud seeding’ could be tried to generate rain. If the government could establish more desalination plants to tackle drinking water scarcity in coastal regions by engaging corporate companies as a Corporate Social Responsibility exercise.
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The court said that the Centre and State could take a cue from research works carried out by American institutes that had proved cloud seeding to be an effective method. Also, USA, China and Sri Lanka had carried out successful tests on artificial rain. Theses experiments encouraged trying cloud seeding as a method to generate rain, the court said.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by K.K. Ramesh of Madurai who sought a direction to the Centre and State to take effective steps to take up water storage in Tamil Nadu on a war footing. He also sought a direction to ensure regular drinking water supply and create awareness through advertisements asking people to use water judiciously.