Rains again lash Punjab & Haryana, dash farmers' hopes

Moderate to heavy rains lashed many parts of Punjab and Haryana in past 24 hours, dashing the hopes of farmers as wet weather was likely to hamper wheat harvesting in the two agrarian states.
Rains lashed many parts of the two states since last evening and continued to pour even today at some places including Chandigarh, where wet weather prevailed in the morning.
Unseasonal rains, which had lashed the two states for most of the March month, have continued in April as well with latest spell accompanied by strong winds at some places coming as a blow for the peasants whose crops had already suffered damage owing to earlier spells.

A MeT official said the latest spell was caused due to a Western Disturbance which was active over north Pakistan and adjoining region in Jammu and Kashmir. An Upper Air Cyclonic Circulation over Punjab and neighbourhood also brought about the change in weather in the northern states yesterday.
The MeT department said among other places which were lashed by rains included Chandigarh (10.1 mm), Amritsar (29.6 mm), Sirhind (15), Batala (3), Gurdaspur (11.2 mm), Madhopur (7 mm), Dasuya (8 mm), Hoshiarpur (14 mm), Mukerian (10.6 mm), Jalandhar (22 mm), Kapurthala (40 mm), Ludhiana (21.2 mm), Patiala (13.3 mm) and Mohali (9 mm).

In Haryana, Ambala (35.7 mm), Hisar (8.2 mm) Karnal (2 mm), Bhiwani (1 mm), Fatehabad (9 mm), Jind (25 mm), Kaithal (17 mm), Kurukshetra (52 mm), Yamunanagar (13 mm) and Panchkula (6 mm) were among other places to be lashed by rains.