Jakarta – Authorities in a haze-shrouded Indonesian city will make artificial rain to wash away choking smoke from forest and ground fires, the state Antara news agency said Thursday,

"We will soon make artificial rain to overcome the smoke haze which has continuously blanketed Palangkaraya because of the fires in fields and from land clearing for other purposes," it quoted Salundik Gohong, mayor of the city in Central Kalimantan province, as saying.

Gohong was addressing the parliament of the province. Palangkaraya,a city of some 160,000 people, is its capital. He have no details of the apparent cloud-seeding exercise. The city on Borneo island had also made ready 21 fire fighting units before the arrival of the dry season.

Local air quality monitor M.N. Gozali was quoted as saying that by Tuesday afternoon, the air over the city had reached unhealthy levels. Provincial spokesman Harun Al Rasyid told AFP that many people are suffering from nausea and respiratory ailments but gave no figures. He said many motorcyclists were wearing face masks. Others covered their nose and mouth with a wet cloth.

In neighbouring East Kalimantan, Lili Juhari of the provincial environmental impact management agency said the number of hot spots – areas of high temperatures indicating possible fires – was "negligible" at just over 60 compared to Central and West Kalimantan. But the fire danger index, measuring several factors such as temperature and humidity, was already high in the region, Juhari said.

In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, strong winds and light rain on Monday had helped keep the sky relatively clear Tuesday. "But this is only temporary, as once the drought starts in a few weeks a return to thick smoke over Pontianak is only a matter of time," a local weather official said.

Fires in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra in 1997-98 caused thick haze to choke the region for months.