DEFICIENT RAIN IN 1/4TH OF COUNTRY

NEW DELHI: With the fourmonth rainy season almost half over, the rainfall deficiency in the eastern part of India, especially in Bihar and Jharkhand, has crossed the 40 per cent mark, while a quarter of the country has received deficient rainfall, the India Meteorological Department data shows.

Bihar has recorded the highest monsoon deficiency of 48 per cent, while east Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand have recorded 46 and 42 per cent respectively.

The overall monsoon deficiency in the country has, however, dipped to three per cent.

The overall deficiency in east and northeast India is 34 per cent, the highest in the country in comparison to the other meteorological divisions of the country.

The Northwest India division, comprising Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, has recorded 9 per cent of negative rainfall or less rainfall than the long period average.

The picture is, however, better in southern peninsula and central India, which have recorded 15 and 16 per cent more rainfall than the average respectively.

The IMD has also issued a warning of heavy rainfall over parts of Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and central Maharashtra.

A depression currently lies over southeast Jharkhand, northeast Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal.

This will lead to heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over west Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha, heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places over central Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh, the IMD said in its forecast for tomorrow.

Heavy rain is also expected at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, Odisha, sub -Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Telangana, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, coastal Karnataka and Kerala.