Artificial cloudbursts? Not possible, Konda tells KCR

HYDERABAD: Quickly imbibing the nationalist narrative after his induction into the Bharatiya Janata Party, former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy on Monday launched a broadside against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for the latter’s suspicion that some foreign hands may have artificially created a cloudburst to trigger floods in the Godavari basin.

Vishweshwar Reddy, who was a former adjunct faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, made a power point presentation to the media to explain what a cloudburst is and how it occurs.  He said that cloudbursts which result in 100 mm of rain per hour, can naturally occur in topological and orographic conditions. 

“Under no circumstances can they be artificially engineered,” he said. He, however, said that cloud seeding can be done using silver iodide, potassium iodide, dry ice, and various other salts in gaseous form. To make a cloudburst all the Godavari river basin, it should shower nearly 100 TMC across a 28300 km^2 area, he said. 

“Even assuming continuous rain for 24 hours for 100 TMC water it will cover 1,179 km^2,” he explained. During his presentation, Vishweshwar Reddy made references to Pakistan and China multiple times in connection with the alleged conspiracy. “Even if it is a conspiracy by Pakistan or China, how could they fly thousands of kilometres without coming under radar, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Army Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and other agencies,” he asked.

‘Secret airbase in Gajwel’
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy said that around 30 to 50 aircraft are required to artificially create a cloudburst in any place. For that, the alleged conspirators need to set up a “secret airbase” locally. “Perhaps, the airbase is present in KCR’s constituency Gajwel,” he said, tongue 
firmly in cheek.