NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday announced that the capital is preparing to induce artificial rainfall through cloud seeding, a first-of-its-kind attempt to combat the city’s air pollution.“Preparations have been completed for the first time in Delhi to induce artificial rain through cloud seeding. Today, experts have successfully tested it in the Burari area,” Gupta said in a post on X.He added that the India Meteorological Department has forecast favorable weather conditions between October 28 and 30, and the city is likely to witness its first artificial rain on October 29.“This initiative is not only historic from a technical perspective but also aims to establish a scientific method to combat pollution in Delhi. The government’s goal is to make the capital’s air clean and the environment balanced through this innovation,” he said, extending “his best wishes to our cabinet colleague Manjinder Singh Sirsa and all officials involved in making this effort successful.”The announcement comes as Delhi continues to battle deteriorating air quality, with pollution levels persisting in the “very poor” category for several days. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 305 on Thursday, while Anand Vihar recorded a severe 410, the highest among monitoring stations.Of 38 monitoring locations, 23 reported “very poor” air quality and 14 fell into the “poor” range. The Air Quality Management Commission has already invoked Stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across the National Capital Region to prevent further deterioration.