After a few showers in mid-June, the monsoon has been playing truant dashing hopes for farmers across the country
Highlights
- Key reservoirs across India are below 15 per cent capacity
- Seven reservoirs, most of which are in Maharashtra, are without water
- Met department has forecast surplus rain in July and August
After a few showers in mid-June, the monsoon has been playing truant dashing hopes for farmers across the country.
In Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, some have gone ahead with sowing but the long dry spell has led to uncertainty among them. Assurances by the Met department are doing little to calm their nerves.
About 800 km in Maharashtra's Nashik district, 52-year-old Sharad Dharwade is facing the same problem. As the monsoon picks up across the country, his 4-acre field continues to thirst for water, just like the rest of the village.
"It's already July and there is still no sign of the rain," he said.
After the Met department forecast, farmers hope for surplus rain in July and August
Maharashtra's water resources minister also sounded alarmed by the situation. "There are many areas that still haven't received much rainfall. Some reservoirs still have no water to even supply to cities," said Girish Mahajan.
The state government's anxiety reflected in the latest figures of the Central Water Commission's data on key reservoirs in the country which are below 15 per cent capacity. Seven reservoirs, most of which are in Maharashtra, are still without water.
In the east of the country, there's no immediate respite for the Bolangir district in Odisha. It has received just one-third of the average rainfall it gets during the month of June. The situation has prompted farmers like 25-year-old Bideshi Sahu, who has already spent close to Rs 12,000 on getting his field ready, to consider other options. "If it doesn't rain in another 10 days, I will start looking for work in Andhra or migrate to a city," he said
After two consecutive years of drought in many states of the country, all hopes now rest on the predictions of the Met department that has forecast surplus rain in July and August.
(Kishor Belsare, Gopal Pradhan, Atul Gaur also contributed to this story)(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)