Rain lashes Ludhiana on Friday. Punjab has received 32% of total normal rain for June in just 4 days of the month while Haryana got 25%. (Gurmeet Singh)
Though monsoon usually arrives in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh region by June end, good pre-monsoon showers during the last four days has made the region rain surplus ahead of the water-guzzling paddy transplanting season. The region has already received 25 to 30% of excess rain that it normally receives in June.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the normal rain in region for June is 50.4 mm, 47.5 mm and 130.2 mm respectively out of which Punjab has already received 16.2 mm against the normal 1.6 mm, which translates to 32%, till June 4. Haryana has got 12.3 mm against 1.9 mm which is 25.8%, while Chandigarh received 19.1 mm against the normal 6.6 mm.
Punjab has seen a departure of 912%, Haryana 546% and Chandigarh 189% from the normal to surplus rain in the past four days. Punjab has even received 10 mm more rain when compared to last year during the same period.
Barring the two districts of Mahendergarh and Jhajjar in Haryana which recorded -52% and -17 % rain against the normal, all 41 districts of Punjab and Haryana received surplus rain.
In Punjab, Moga topped the chart with 7,875% more rain by getting 31.9 mm against the normal 0.4 mm, followed by Kapurthala at 4,485% by receiving 50.4 mm against the normal 1.1 mm. Apart from this, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Mohali, Patiala and Sangrur districts too received 4,150%, 2,394%, 1,897%, 1,728%, 1,396% and 1,104%, and 1,013% more rain respectively. Remaining 13 districts too received rain between 207% to 991%.
In Haryana, Sonepat recorded the highest rainfall among all districts at 4,325% followed by Karnal, Kaaithal and Ambala at 1,935, 1,075% and 1,011% respectively. The remaining 15 districts got surplus rain between 96% to 764%.
Direct Sowing Rice (DSR) has already started in both the states and the transplanting of paddy will start from June 10 in Punjab.
The water-guzzling rice crop is sown in about 42-43 lakh hectares. This includes 30 to 31 lakh hectares of non-Basmati variety which is the reason for depleting ground water level in both the states.
The rain received in the last four days would be highly beneficial for DSR which needs no puddling and simple good rain is sufficient for its sowing.
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