NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, AUG 11
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said the rainfall in Gujarat remains deficient, with a departure of -45 per cent from the normal rains recorded so far.
Even as water levels in more than 200 dams and reservoirs in the state remain less than half of their total storage capacities, the state government has decided to supply water from dams to irrigate around 5 lakh hectares of land to prevent damage to standing crops.
CM Shri @vijayrupanibjp sensitively decides to immediately release water for irrigation from dams and reservoirs to help farmers save their standing crops in the wake of delayed and scanty rains in the State. pic.twitter.com/AjwoJzQHEj
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) August 11, 2021
According to the IMD report, Gujarat has reported a departure of -45 per cent from the normal rainfall between June 1 and August 10. As against the normal rainfall of 458.8 mm for the period, the state has received only 252.7 mm rainfall, the weather department stated.
Of 33 districts of Gujarat, Arvalli and Gandhinagar have reported “large deficient” rainfall so far this season, while the remaining 31 have reported “deficient” rainfall, the IMD report stated.
A deficient rainfall is when the percentage departure of realised rainfall from long period average (LPA) is between -20 to -59 per cent, and a “large deficient” rainfall is when the percentage departure is -60 to -90 per cent.
According to the zone-wise data provided by the State Emergency Operation Centre, South Gujarat has received 36.39 per cent of average annual rainfall, followed by east-central regions with 34.72 per cent, Saurashtra with 33.80 per cent, Kutch with 31.74 per cent and the northern part of the state with 31.20 per cent.
Meanwhile, below normal rainfall has also depleted water stored in 207 dams and reservoirs in the state. Water levels in the dams are at 47.54 per cent of their total gross storage capacities, as per the storage position provided by the Narmada and Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpsar Department on Wednesday.
Only five out of 207 dams are filled to the brim, and four of these are in Saurashtra region and one in south Gujarat, it was stated.
As sowing has been completed on 75,73,106 hectares of land in the current Kharif season, the state government has decided to supply water from dams to the standing crops on 5 lakh hectares of land after securing drinking water supply till September 30, a state government release stated on Tuesday.
“Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has instructed the Water Resources Department to reserve the amount of drinking water in the reservoirs of the state till September 30 and release the remaining for immediate irrigation to save the standing crops,” a release from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.
