State authorities sprinkle water in Lucknow to tackle rising air pollution

Authorities on Thursday sprinkled water to settle dust, hours after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked the municipal corporation to take a slew of steps to combat the rising level of air pollution.

The state environment department was also looking into the prospects of artificial rainfall, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

Fire tenders were pressed into service to sprinkle water across the city to control dust, a senior official said.

"A meeting was held with IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Kanpur officials at the government level to discuss the option of artificial rain through cloud seeding. If there is any such option that is successful, it will be explored by the environment department," Sharma said.

Taking a serious view of the rising level of air pollution, Adityanath had directed municipal corporations to ensure that garbage is not burnt and sprinkling of water is done to control dust.

Adityanath had said that cloud seeding techniques should be explored in collaboration with the IIT Kanpur.

He directed the district magistrates to run awareness campaigns, so as to stop farmers from burning farm waste.

Observing that traffic snarls lead to air pollution, the chief minister said: "Proper traffic operations and movement should be ensured so that there is no traffic jam. To reduce air pollution, old vehicles should be reviewed, and if needed removed".

Adityanath also directed decongestion of the Kaisarbagh bus stand in Lucknow.

Instructions have been issued to fill trenches along the construction site of Lucknow Metro rail, so that dust can be minimised, and air pollution reduced.