Monsoon makes delayed arrival in Punjab, Haryana

CHANDIGARH: Moderate rainfall marked arrival of monsoon today in Punjab and Haryana, almost two-week behind schedule, drenching cotton and paddy crops sown in the current kharif season. Notwithstanding the delay in rains, experts maintain that states are poised for higher than normal output of kharif crops.

“The crops are in good condition across the state and late monsoon has not affected standing crops,” additional director agriculture, Haryana, Suresh Gahlawat said. He said that the area under cotton has increased by one-lakh acres this year.

While heavy rains have been battering Uttar Pradesh, the advance of monsoon was halted in the first week of July after it had covered some part of Southern Haryana. “Monsoon entered a weak phase after covering Southern part of Haryana and got deflect to West,” director, MET Chandigarh, Surender Paul, said. He said after a dry spell in coming days, more rains are early next week.

The rains on Tuesday covered most districts in Punjab relieving farmers in the state. “Even though crops are irrigated by groundwater but rain water acts like manure,” Sukhdev Singh, a basmati grower based in Amritsar said.

The Met department said that Haryana received highest rainfall of 25.8 mm in district Yamunanagar on July 11 followed by Panipat which had received 18.5 mm rainfall. He said that 18.4 mm rainfall had been recorded in district Ambala, 17.3 mm in district Mewat, 13.6 mm in Jhajjar, 13.3 mm in Faridabad, 11.8 mm in Rewari, 6.5 mm in Rohtak, 6.2 mm in Panchkula, 5.8 mm in Palwal, 4.2 mm in Bhiwani, 5 mm in Gurugram, 3 mm in Kurukshetra and 2.3 mm in Karnal.