Punjab, Haryana again receive scanty rains this year

Chandigarh, Sep 21 (PTI) Punjab and Haryana, the grainbowl states of the country, received scanty monsoon rains thisyear for the second consecutive year, with deficit standing at25 per cent each between June and September. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, alsoreceived poor rains this year, with a deficit of 46 per cent,an official of the Chandigarh’s Meteorological Departmenttold PTI here today. Between June 1 and September 20 period this year, UnionTerritory Chandigarh had received a rainfall of 428.6 mm asagainst normal of 794.7 mm, leaving a deficit of 46 per cent. Last year, Chandigarh had received 35 per cent less rainsthan normal while the deficit during the same period forPunjab and Haryana stood at 31 per cent and 38 per cent,respectively. In the said period this year, Punjab had received arainfall of 346.3 mm as against normal of 461.5 mm, leaving adeficit of 25 per cent, the MeT official said. Likewise, Haryana received 331.7 mm of rains againstnormal of 441 mm, leaving a defecit of 25 per cent, he said. Among the worst affected district of Punjab which receivedpoor rains included Ferozepur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib,Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana while comparatively thedistricts which had good rains included Faridkot, Gurdaspur,Ropar and Bathinda. Similarly in Haryana, several northern districts receivedpoor rains including Ambala, Kurukshetra and Panchkula. Panipat, Rohtak and Sonipat also received scanty rainswhile the districts which lie closer to Delhi includingGurgaon, Faridabad and Jhajjar comparatively had good rainfallbetween June 1 and September 20 period. In Punjab, Ferozepur had 104.5 mm as against normal of332.2 mm, leaving a deficit of 69 per cent, Patiala had 240.7mm as against 571.7 mm, with deficit of 58 per cent, FatehgarhSahib had 250.3 mm as against 505.3 mm, leaving a deficit of50 per cent. Hoshiarpur had 376.2 mm of rains as against normal of674.6 mm, leaving a deficit of 44 per cent, Jalandhar had293.8 mm as against normal of 516.8 mm, with deficit of 43 percent, Ludhiana had 291.2 mm of rain as against 499.7 mm, withdeficit of 42 per cent, Mansa had 173.6 mm as against 310.3mm, with deficiency of 44 per cent. Bathinda had 286 mm of rain as against normal of 300.9 mm,with deficit of 5 per cent. Amritsar received 450.3 mm of rains as against normal of507.6 mm, leaving a deficit of 11 per cent. (MORE) PTI SUNDIP DVDIP