IIT Bombay's 'anti-hail gun' will save the crops grown on the hills; hail will not cause usual loss of 500 crores

Every year, it is estimated that Himachal Pradesh suffers a revenue loss of Rs 400 to 500 crores due to hailstones, affecting apple orchards as well as other crops in the state. As a result, it is the farmers, who have to bear the brunt. But now crops such as apples, almonds, cherries, mushrooms will not be spoiled anymore due to hailstones. Thanks to the scientists at IIT Bombay for having invented 'Hail Gun or Anti-Hail Cannon ' which uses a technique to stop the process of converting water droplets into hailstones. The device is a shock wave generator intended to disrupt the formation of hailstones in the atmosphere in the beginning stage. An explosive charge is fired in the lower chamber of the machine and the resulting energy passes through the neck and develops a shock wave.

Solan (Himachal Pradesh): The commercial cultivation of apples in Himachal Pradesh, known as the apple state, has been continuing for more than a hundred years. Today, the economy of the state is strengthened by the production of 7.77 lakh metric tonnes of apples in 1,10,679 hectares of the area in the state, despite which the gardeners still fear crop failure.

Every year Himachal is estimated to have a loss of 500 million rupees due to hail. Along with apples, other crops are also spoiled due to hail. The farmers and gardeners have to bear the brunt and now due to hail in all the hilly states including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, other hill crops including almonds, cherries and mushrooms are also spoiled.

Scientists at IIT Bombay have invented a 'Hail Gun', a technique to stop the process of converting water droplets to hail. Scientists claim that its use alone will reduce the damage done to the apple crops.

Loss of about Rs 500 crore rupees annually

Vice-Chancellor of Nauni University, Dr Parvinder Kaushal said that there is a loss of about 500 crores in Himachal every year due to these hailstorms. To avoid hailstorms, the gardeners still use anti-hail nets. The use of this net has an effect on the growth and production of plants. This is why the gardeners have to suffer major losses even after installing anti-hail nets.

Hail guns will be cheaper, LPG gas will be used

According to Dr Parvinder Kaushal, last year the state government had ordered an anti-hail gun, which cost around 70 to 75 lakhs, but now Nauni University is working on anti-hail guns in collaboration with IIT Mumbai. LPG will be used in these guns. The cost of this 22-foot long gun will be around 8 to 10 lakh rupees. He said that the self-sufficient campaigns of the State and Central government have been kept in mind during the production of this project.

Nauni University is testing the technology

IIT Bombay Department of Aerospace Engineering, scientist Prof. Sudarshan Kumar said that the Science Engineering and Research Board of the Central Government had given this project a cost of around 85 lakhs in the year 2019 to find some technology to protect the crops from hail. He believes that the project will be completed by 2022. Currently, this technology is being used in the research station of Kandaghat of Dr YS Parmar University (Nauni) of Himachal Pradesh. The university team will be testing the effectiveness of this technology.

The same technology used in missiles and fighter planes

Dr SK Bhardwaj (HOD, Department of Environmental Science), a scientist at Nauni University, said that the 'Hail Gun' has used the same technology as missiles and fighter aircraft. This technology uses the plus detonation engine on the lines of the gas turbine engine of aeroplanes and rocket engines of the missile.

In this, the mixture of LPG and air is fired with a mild explosion. A shock wave is produced by this mild explosion. This shock wave enters the atmosphere through the 'Hail Gun' and increases the temperature inside the clouds. This slows down the process of making hail.

Impact on around 10 km

The missile emanating from inside the anti-Hail gun will create an impact in an area of about 10 kilometres, that is, the process of a hailstorm will stop in such an area. The initial cost of this technology, including the installation of the Hail Gun, will be around 10 lakh rupees, while later the LPG will have to be paid. LPG has been used to keep this technology cheap.

Scientists say that 0.24kg of gas is being used in 1 shot in the use of Hell Gun and about 500 to 600 shots are coming out if one cylinder is talked about. According to scientists, the experiment is currently going on and in the coming time, the amount of gas can be increased and decreased.

When the cold increases in the clouds, the water droplets deposited in the atmosphere freeze and take the shape of ice. After this, they fall on the ground in the shape of snow shells. This is called hail. Due to hail, crops like apples, almonds, cherries, walnuts and bunchi (hill mushroom) worth about 40 to 50 thousand rupees per kg are the biggest losses.

Apple production at 71 percent

In Himachal, apple accounts for 71 per cent of the area of fruit production. Himachal produces 35 per cent of the total apple production in the country. Apples are cultivated here mainly in the districts of Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Sirmaur, Kinnaur and Chamba with elevations ranging from 3,500 to 9000 feet.