JOIN US19% excess rain in state; water, fodder woes subside
Karnataka, which was facing severe drought till May, has been receiving normal rains for the last one month. Not a single district is facing deficit rains at present.
From June 1 to July 6, the state on an average received 279 mm of rains against the normal average of 250 mm. This 19% excess rain helped tackle drinking water and fodder shortage, besides pushing up agriculture activities.
However, water inflow to major dams in the state is still dismal. Last year’s drought had pushed water levels in many dams to rock bottom. Also, pre-monsoon showers failed between April and May this year.
According to Dr Srinivas Reddy, director of Karnataka State National Disaster Management Cell, south interior Karnataka received 52% excess rain, followed by north interior Karnataka - 15%, coastal region - 8% and the Malnad - 1% excess rain, in the last one month. Up to last week, the districts in Malnad faced about 32% deficit, he pointed out.
Those districts which have received excess rains in the last one month are - Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Davangere, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Ballari, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Bagalkot, Haveri and Hassan. The other 13 districts received normal rains.
Reddy said, “Up to the third week of June, the situation was grim with below normal rains. But suddenly, the monsoon revived. It is raining even in the Western Ghats in the last 10 days and this has increased inflow to the hydel reservoirs.”
The director said inflow to the dams may go up in the weeks ahead as the state will continue to get rains for the rest of July and in August. There is no basis for apprehensions that the dams will go dry, he said.
Asked whether the state has overcome drought situation, the director said, “Even now, in some places, water is supplied through tankers as the water table is yet to go up.”
As far as rain forecast is concerned, except in the coastal districts, scattered rains are expected in south and north interior Karnataka for the next couple of days.
High intensity rains are not expected anywhere in the state in the next one week, he said.
Reddy said because of the rains, sowing activities have picked up. This year’s kharif season sowing target is to cover 73 lakh hectares.
By June-end, about 26.70 lakh hectares have been covered against the average of 21.24 lakh hectares.