MeT issues ‘red alert’ for 14 Haryana districts

Deepender Deswal

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Hisar, January 19

The cold wave and fog has left the entire region reeling in cold as the Indian Meteorological Department(IMD) has issued a ‘red alert’ in 14 districts of the state for Saturday and ‘orange alert’ for the next couple of days.

According to reports, the frost was visible in the morning in some parts of the sandy areas of Hisar and Bhiwani districts.

The maximum temperature in Hisar was reported as 11.6°C which was 7.4 °C below the normal. The fog also remained for most part of the day forcing people to stay indoors. The minimum temperature was also reported at 5 °C in Hisar, a departure of -2 °C from the normal.

The agriculture experts have advised the mustard and vegetable growers to be wary of the frost. Subhash, a farmer of Raipur village near Hisar, said the harvesting of the vegetables had been adversely affected due to the extreme cold and lack of sunshine during the day. “The growth of vegetables like cabbage, tomato and leafy vegetables like spinach, coriander, fenugreek and chillies have slowed down due to the weather conditions. We have to wait for five-six days to harvest while earlier, these vegetables could be harvested every alternate day,” he said.

The farmer said so far, the impact of frost was less in the areas near Hisar. “The frost can damage the vegetables and mustard. In view of the prolonged cold wave, we apprehend that there will be frost in the region in the next couple of days,” he said.

However, the agriculture experts have advised the farmers to resort to light irrigation for the vegetables and other crops.