Haryana: Several urban, rural pockets reel under waterlogging
Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Mohali, Gurdaspur, Ambala, Hisar, Panchkula, Rohtak, Gurugram, Sirsa and Yamunanagar were among places that saw rain
There were reports of moderate to heavy rain at many places in the two states during the day on Sunday as well. The night temperatures hovered slightly above normal limits at many places, the MET department said.
In Punjab, Amritsar and Ludhiana recorded a low of 10.2 degrees Celsius each while Patiala’s minimum temperature settled at 10.8 degrees Celsius.
Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, was lashed by heavy rain on Sunday.
KARNAL: Heavy rains have lashed most parts of Haryana in the past couple of days and led to waterlogging in several urban and rural pockets of the state.
As per the reports from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Haryana received 18mm rain in the past 24 hours.
Maximum 49mm rainfall was reported in Gurugram, followed by 30mm in Jhajjar district, 29mm in Yamunanagar, 26mm in Mahendergarh, 22mm in Faridabad, 21mm in Panchkula, 20mm in Ambala, 18mm in Sonepat, 17mm in Kaithal, 16mm each in Kurukshetra and Karnal and 15mm in Jind. Residents of several northern and southern districts faced problems of waterlogging while farmers struggled to protect their crops from the water retention.
Rain boon to wheat, bane of mustard, veggies
Agricultural experts have termed the winter rains at this stage a boon for the wheat, but advised the farmers to protect their crop from waterlogging.
As per experts, rain at this stage will improve photosynthesis, resulting in better growth of both the early and lateral varieties of the wheat. The rain has also resulted in a drop in temperature, which is in favour of the crop. The wheat crop requires temperature below 22°C and favourable cold conditions are helping to gain required growth of the plant of both early and lateral varieties. Also, the farmers need not irrigate the crop for the next couple of weeks, they added.
Karam Chand, deputy director, agriculture, Kaithal district, said as of now, there were no reports of damage to the crop or waterlogging. He, however, advised the farmers to avoid irrigation for the next couple of days. Farmers said excess rain is bad for the mustard and vegetables. “The mustard crop is in maturing stage, but the rain has flattened most of the crop and this will affect the yield,” said a farmer, Nirmal Singh, of Indri of Karnal district.
Even in an advisory to the farmers, IMD Chandigarh had asked them to withhold irrigation in mustard crop due to possibility of rain till January 10.
Also, farmers said that the rain has affected the harvesting of vegetables.