 "A traffic police man drinks water to quench his thirst on a hot sunny afternoon at the Rajpath between North Block and South Block in New Delhi")
Slow progress of the south-west monsoon has led to an overall deficiency of rain by 22 per cent over the last fortnight, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.
According to the IMD, from June 1 to 15, the country has received overall 43.6 mm of rainfall as compared to normal level of 55.7 mm, an overall deficiency of 22 per cent.
The progress of monsoon has been relatively slow as it is not getting a favourable system to move forward and is held up at Karwar and Gadag in Karnataka and Ongole in Andhra Pradesh.
It is only the southern peninsula that has recorded 27 per cent excess rainfall. Other parts of the country have seen deficient rains.
The eastern and north-eastern parts have received 90.4 mm of rain as compared to the normal level of 138.7 mm, while north-west India has recorded only 13.6 mm, which is 36 per cent less than normal.
Central India has recorded rain of 27.3 mm as against the normal precipitation of 43.5 mm, a decrease of 37 per cent.
The onset of monsoon was seven days late this year as against its normal arrival date of June 1. Since conditions are not favourable for speedy progress, north and central India will witness a delay in arrival.
The normal date of arrival of monsoon in Mumbai is June 10 and July 1 in Delhi.
Meanwhile, the south-west monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of the Bay of Bengal and some parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.
"Conditions are favourable for further advancement into some more parts of the central Arabian Sea, entire Goa, some parts of Konkan, south Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada, remaining parts of North Interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Telangana, remaining parts of the Bay of Bengal and some parts of Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar during next four to five days," the IMD said.
Monsoon was active over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim since Tuesday.
