Water flow rises to 56,826 cusecs in Yamuna

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, March 2

The flow of water in the Yamuna river rose to 56,826 cusecs due to incessant rain in Himachal Pradesh on Monday.

The Yamuna was flowing at 5,364 cusecs at 6 am today. However, a sudden rise was witnessed at 11 am with 11,460 cusecs of water. After 11 am, the river kept swelling till late evening.

With rainfall since Sunday, seasonal rivulets Som Nadi and Pathrali too have been overflowing.

Rakesh Jangra, assistant plant protection officer, said the rain followed by fast winds had caused a huge loss to the wheat crop. He said wheat crop on about 20,000 hectares of land in Yamunanagar district was flattened by the winds. He said Chhachhruali, Bilaspur and Jathlana areas were the most-affected areas. “The early sowing wheat crop is in the earhead stage and the late sowing crop is in the tillering stage. If the crop flattens at this stage, it will lead to a huge loss of yield,” said Jangra.

Jaswinder Singh Saini, quality control officer, Agriculture Department, said 78 mm rain was recorded in the past 24 hours in Yamunanagar district. The maximum rain was recorded in Bilaspur block at 117 mm, followed by Chhachhruali block at 84 mm, Radaur block at 76 mm, Sadhaura block at 72 mm and Jagadhri block at 65 mm.

Saini said the heavy rain would delay the sowing of sugarcane, maize and cucurbits crops and also delay the harvesting of sugarcane, potato and mustard crops.

“The fruit crops, including peach, plum, pear and mango are now in the flowering stage. Heavy rain followed by fast winds will damage the flowers affecting the yield adversely,” said Saini.

On the other hand, water accumulated in several low-lying areas, including Professor Colony, Thapar Ground, Azad Nagar, Veena Nagar, Darshan Vihar and Mukharji Park, causing inconvenience to residents.