 "Skymet forecasts 'above normal' rainfall")
The fresh spell of rains that major parts of Chhattisgarh had been observing for the last one week have pulled the state from slipping into severe drought.
As on Monday, the state had recorded 1,060 millimetres (mm) of rainfall in the season, starting from June 1. The rainfall received so far had been 100.8 per cent of the average rainfall received during the period in the last one decade in Chhattisgarh, which has an average rainfall of 1,296.7 mm.
In the month of July, the state received about 500 mm of rainfall. The figure increased to 870 mm by the end of August and that alerted the authorities. A further dry spell would mean Chhattisgarh slipping into severe drought for a second consecutive year.
For the last one week, the state had been receiving good rainfall that was not expected in the month of September. “The situation has changed drastically with the fresh spell of rainfall that has pulled out many tehsils from facing severe drought this year,” a spokesperson of the revenue department said.
While 65 tehsils were reeling under drought threat, the number is now confined to single digit, the spokesperson added. The state government had constituted two teams that would be touring the entire state to assess the situation of crop and submit a detailed report.
The scanty rainfall in the state would affect the production of paddy that has been the state’s major crop. Chhattisgarh is among the top 10 paddy growing states in the country. Of the estimated kharif foodgrain output of 8.68 million tonnes target for the kharif season 2016-17, 7.6 million tonnes would be paddy.
Paddy production would be 16 per cent higher than last year’s production. A target had been set to take paddy crop in 3.6 million tonnes area, that would be three per cent less that the area in which paddy was sown in the 2015 kharif season.
