Chandigarh, July 1
The Meteorological Department officials today stated that the showers witnessed in the region in the past 48 hours are indeed the southwest monsoon and it is now advancing actively into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
The Director of Meteorological Department, Chandigarh, Chatar Singh, said the northern limit of the monsoon had widened since yesterday to include parts of Rajasthan and the entire Punjab and Haryana. “Yesterday, we had registered active monsoon in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana and normal in Punjab. Today, we have registered normal monsoon in Himachal Pradesh and active in Punjab and Haryana,” said Singh.
If the monsoons continue to advance normally across the region, the paddy crop is expected to flourish and yield expected results. Farmers who had ended paddy transplantation were eagerly waiting for the rains for the much-needed boost to the other sources of irrigation.
The rains had also led the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) announcing yesterday that due to an increase in the levels of Bhakra and Pong Dam Reservoirs, the outflow of water would be enhanced to 28,000 cusecs and 7,000 cusecs, respectively.
Due to an increase in releases the daily power generation may also increase to 360 lakh units from present 330 lakh units. The power situation in the
state also improved marginally with power cuts reducing from the daily 6 to 8 hours to about
four hours.
While rains have brought cheer to the farmers, it also dipped the mercury by several degrees at most places in the region. Ambala in Haryana was the wettest in the region following heavy showers of 69 mm the district. Haryana registered 4.1 mm of rains and Punjab 4.7 mm of rainfall. Hisar received a rainfall of 9 mm and registered a maximum temperature of 36.6° C two degrees lower than normal. Amritsar recorded a high of 33.8° C, down by three degrees than normal and a rainfall of 15.2 mm.
Agency reports add that Chandigarh was drenched by 16.2 mm rains and the maximum temperature here settled at 31.6 degrees celsius, four degrees below normal. With rains cooling the region, Ludhiana and Patiala also had a pleasant day recording respective maximums of 31.5° C and 32.9° C. A heavy downpour (45 mm) lashed Ludhiana while Patiala also received good amount of rain (22.8 mm).
