Delayed monsoon likely in Chhattisgarh

Arrival of monsoon is likely to be delayed in Chhattisgarh. "The monsoon will head towards Chhattisgarh only with the emergence of system in the Bay of Bengal," head of local meteorological centre M L Sahu said. There is no indication of emergence of a strong system in the next couple of days, he added.

The weather experts feel that there is no sign of monsoon hitting Orissa within next few days. "It takes nearly five days for the monsoon to reach Chhattisgarh after it reaches Orissa," the experts added.

Normally, monsoon arrives in Chhattisgarh by June 10. But this year too, the experts predict, its arrival will be delayed like last year which witnessed scanty and erratic rainfall. According to experts, monsoon breaks in Bastar first and reaches the state capital in the next three days.

In last five years, monsoon has hit the state in normal time only in 2008. The records available with the state agriculture department suggest that in 2008, monsoon hit the state on June 12. In 2005, it reached Chhattisgarh on June 24, in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Last year, monsoon had arrived in the state on June 27. However, scanty and erratic monsoon had severely hit the production of foodgrains in the state in the kharif season 2009-10.

The Chhattisgarh government has set paddy production target of 9 million tonnes for the kharif season 2010-11. The state had produced about 7 million tonnes of paddy in the last kharif season.

According to agriculture scientist Sanket Thakur, further delay in monsoon could hit the production this year as well. "By this time, monsoon should have arrived and it is a matter of concern," he said.

Thakur said last year the situation was more critical as dry spell prevailed for a long soon after monsoon broke in the state.