BEIJING: Government scientists in Beijing have been pilloried for inducing a recent heavy snowfall that jammed traffic, delayed air travel and left city residents shivering, state media said today.

Sunday’s snowfall dropped more than 16 million tonnes of snow on the Chinese capital, blanketing a city where winter heating services have yet to be switched on and leading to howls of public protest, the China Daily reported.

The Weather Modification Office shot massive amounts of chemicals into clouds

over the city the night before to

provoke the snowfall, which

it said was needed due to a lingering drought in the region, the paper said.

Heating in most Beijing buildings was due to be turned on November 15, but city

officials were forced to

move the timetable forward and were working today

to bring buildings onstream ahead of schedule.

“This arbitrary government decision had disregarded the interests of the people... we should have considered the potential hazards of cloud seeding,” said one commentary carried in the paper.

Sunday’s snowfall, the earliest to hit the capital in 22 years, delayed 200 flights stranding thousands of passengers, led to traffic accidents and disrupted electrical services dozens of times, it added.

“This shows that there is lot of room to improve the national weather manipulation warning system for the public,” the paper quoted Chen Zhenlin, spokesman of the China Meteorological Administration, as saying.