New Delhi: After a gap of 53 years, Delhi conducted cloud seeding trials on Tuesday to induce artificial rain in the national capital amid surging pollution levels, even as the weather department did not record any traces of rainfall in the city.

The Delhi government, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, conducted the trials in parts of Delhi, including Burari, north Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar, and Badli, with more such exercises planned over the next few days, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said.

Later, in the evening, the government in a report said that the cloud seeding trials helped in reduction of particulate matter at locations where the exercise was carried out even as conditions were not ideal for it.

The report said that two precipitation events were recorded -- Noida at

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