Agra, Noida face drought conditions after 53% less rain
Agra has had 53% lower rainfall this year, with just 123.5 mm rainfall, according to the Meteorological Department. Five districts across UP? Agra, Pilibhit, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Noida had seriously low rainfall and are facing drought conditions, reports said. Noida received only 96 mm rains against the average of 204.2 mm, making a shortfall of 53%.
India is called a land of vast diversities and as almost always, this monsoon is serving to show exactly how vast the diversity is. When large parts of Northeast and West India are being inundated by heavy rains, causing property damage worth crores and claiming lives of men and animals alike, most of the Ganga-Yamuna plain area of Uttar Pradesh is parched due to lack of rainfall.Farmers in the northeast have lost their crops to the heavy rains and in Uttar Pradesh, the farmers are afraid of losing their crops to the dry season. Five districts of UP, Agra, Pilibhit, Muzaffar Nagar, Ghaziabad and Noida are facing a serious drought that is showing no signs of lifting anytime soon.A senior administrative official told India Today that out of 72 districts in UP, 44 are yet to have decent rainfall in the monsoon season. Farms are drying up in these districts, but out of these, the worst affected five districts are gearing up for contingency plans in case the monsoon decides to skip these districts altogether. The heat and humidity is making people fall sick and although the Yamuna river is flowing with ample water to ward off any drinking water crisis, vegetable prices are shooting sky-high.The month of July ends in two days, but the monsoon clouds have overflown these districts, especially the western UP, where 21 cities of 30 districts have seen very low rainfall. In east UP, 23 out of 42 cities have not had satisfactory rains. The affected districts of western UP include Agra, Oraiyya, Badaun, Bulandshehar, Etawah, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Hathras, Mahoba, Mathura, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, and Etah.Agra's neighboring district Mainpuri has had 307.99 mm rains in July, Etah has had 274.3 mm, Firozabad has had 244.4 mm, while Mathura has had only 164.3 mm rainfall. A Meteorological Department official told India Today that the drought affected 5 districts have had seriously low rainfall this July.Agra has had 53 per cent lower rainfall this year, with just 123.5 mm rainfall. The average for July is 260.4 mm. Rampur lost 52 per cent of its annual rainfall and got only 191.3 mm rains compared to the average of 399.4 mm. Noida got just 96 mm rains against an average of 204.2 mm, making a shortfall of 53 per cent. Ghaziabad had 105.8 mm rains against 238.6 mm average, with a shortfall of 56 per cent. Muzaffar Nagar lost 61% of its water, getting only 120.4 mm rains compared to 305.2 mm average. Similarly, Pilibhit too lost 62 per cent water this month, getting 152.8 mm rains against 403 mm average.Commenting on the lack of rains in Agra, social activist Vishal Sharma quoted a small verse "Shukr hai Agra mein nahin baraste badal, mere sheher ko barish ki aadat nahin hai". He said that although the dry season brings its own set of problems, it is a fact that Agra is not equipped to handle rains that last even an hour, let alone an entire day. The civic amenities in the city are prone to failure in the event of heavy rains due to the lack of drainage in most of the city, as was witnessed a couple of years earlier when heavy rainfall caused vast property damage in the city and the municipal authorities struggled for days to clear the water-logging in the low-lying areas.Sharma said that even this month, the rainfall that took place a couple of days back, claimed the roofs of several old houses in Motikatra, Nagla Joshiyan and other parts of the old city, injuring a number of people. Several houses were also cracked, although the rain was not enough to cause serious water logging. However, even 40-50 mm rainfall in a day would be enough to cut off most of the densely populated outer areas from the rest of the city for several hours, if not days.Meanwhile, Agra District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal has instructed all Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates of Agra to prepare reports of the drought so that the compensation amounts could be decided for the farmers.ALSO READ: