A flight left Kanpur on Tuesday to carry out a trial cloud-seeding experiment over Delhi's Burari area, in an effort to induce artificial rain in the hope of improving Delhi's 'very poor' air quality.

ALSO READ | Can cloud seeding help Delhi-NCR breathe again? All you need to know

According to Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, this comes after IIT Kanpur's Cessna aircraft was unable to take-off earlier today due to poor visibility and moisture levels below 50 per cent. The Cessna is now scheduled to land in Meerut, after which its future schedule will be decided, subject to the weather.

This also follows a key decision by the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) to ban the entry of all commercial goods vehicles (registered outside Delhi) that are not compliant with BS-VI emission standards, from November 1.

The CAQM decision follows its earlier move to reduce emissions from diesel freight carriers.

The cloud seeding efforts also depend on Burari's weather. Reports say that if the area's cloud cover is not favourable for cloud seeding, the flight will head directly to the Meerut airport, where it will stay until the weather permits the trial.

In the meantime, Delhi's air quality has improved slightly. The Air Quality Index (AQI) reading on Tuesday morning was 306 -- a small decline from 315 on Monday. Still, Delhi's air quality remains in the "very poor" category of the AQI, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The Delhi government aims to improve air quality before winter, when pollution levels peak. AQI levels significantly deteriorated after Diwali, despite the enforcement of Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).