The ambitious programme to induce artificial rainfall through cloud seeding was disrupted at the Ramgarh Dam near here due to an unexpectedly large crowd.
The drone, scheduled to conduct the operation, made two attempts till late afternoon but failed to take off successfully.
Reports of the drone flights for the first-of-its-kind cloud seeding experiment attracted a large number of enthusiastic spectators. The police had a tough time controlling the crowd and even resorted to mild force to disperse them.
Officials from the organising company said the drone flights could not be carried out safely in such a congested environment.
State Agriculture Minister Dr. Kirodi Lal Meena stated that the project would continue for two months.
“At present, we are conducting this as a pilot project in a smaller, restricted area using smaller drones. On successful trials, we will seek permission to use larger drones,” he said.
Notably, cloud seeding for artificial rainfall using aircraft has been practiced in India for years. However, this marks the first attempt to undertake the task in a smaller, restricted zone with the help of drones.