Now, spectre of drought looms large over Bihar

The spectre of drought looms large over Bihar as the State has witnessed around 40 per cent deficit rainfall this monsoon.

Alarmed at the development, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took stock of the situation in a meeting with principal secretaries of Agriculture, Water Resources, Energy, Health and Disaster Management department. Alerting his officials, Nitish asked them to ensure that diesel subsidy was distributed to the farmers at the earliest.

The State, which was devastated with the flood last year, is facing drought in 2018, as Bihar has received only 203 mm rainfall from June 1 to July 15 as against the normal rainfall of 339.9 mm rainfall during the period.

What is more worrisome is the fact that the weather department has predicted little or no rainfall for the next few more days. “We have witnessed around 40 per cent less rainfall this year. Monsoon is expected to be active here only after July 21-22. By July 21, a monsoon trough line is expected to shift towards Bihar, which may lead to four-five days of rainfall,” said weather scientist Anand Shankar.

Meanwhile, Nitish told his officials that if it does not rain, alternatives will have to be kept ready to deal with such a situation. He asked Water Resources department officials to ensure sufficient flow of water in canals. And at the same time, asked the Energy Secretary to ensure at least 22 hours of power supply in rural areas.

In the meantime, the deficient rainfall has adversely affected cultivation of Kharif crops – paddy and maize. According to an estimate, against the target of cultivating paddy on 34 lakh hectares, the actual transplantation has been on five lakh hectares of land. This is less than 20 per cent of the target.