New Delhi, May 12: Monsoon is expected to arrive on time this year with thefirst showers set to touch the South Andaman seas by May 15 and Kerala coastby June 1. However, this is no succour for the drought-hit areas of thecountry as the average rainfall in the entire monsoon is likely to be 10 percent less than the normal compared to 5 per cent in 1999.In view of the likely erratic conditions of the monsoon, the Centre hasstepped up its relief and rehabilitation measures for the drought-hit areas.The Union ministry of rural development has increased the allocation toGujarat and Rajasthan under Employment Assurance Scheme, Drought Prone AreaProgramme, Desert Development Programme, Integrated Wasteland DevelopmentProgramme and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana up to May 11. Gujarat has beenprovided with Rs 128.09 crore and Rajasthan with Rs 112.93 crore under theseschemes.
The Union department of public distribution has made special foodgrainsallocation of 5,26,462 tonne to Rajasthan, 4,19,205 tonne to Gujarat and3,99,600 tonne to Andhra Pradesh for distribution in the drought affectedareas. The foodgrain allocations are for distributing 20 kg per family atBPL issue price in addition to the normal allocation of 20 kg per family toBPL families at BPL rates and APL families at APL rates. Besides inRajasthan, 6.70 lakh people and in Gujarat, 7.24 lakh people are employedunder food-for-work programme.
The Railways have issued instructions for transportation of fodder and waterthrough its wagons free of charge to drought-hit areas of Andhra Pradesh andOrissa apart from Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The humidity data of the naval centres in the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea andIndian Ocean also show lower humidity levels leading to thinner cloudformations than in the previous year.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a cloud cluster isseen over the Andaman Sea. Conditions are favourable for development of lowpressure area in that region and monsoon is likely to advance into SouthAndaman Sea on time by May 15. The monsoon will touch Kerala coast by June1, central India by June 15 and Delhi by July 1. Monsoon will reachdrought-hit areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan probably by July end. But thedrought-hit areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will experience monsoonrains earlier in mid-June.
In the previous week, rainfall occurred at most places in Arunachal Pradesh,Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura and at many placesin sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and atisolated places in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, east MP, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, TamilNadu and Kerala.
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