Rain lashes many parts of Punjab, Haryana; farmers worried

Light to moderate rain lashed many parts of Punjab and Haryana today, increasing worries of farmers whose crops had already suffered damage due to heavy spell of showers and hailstorm last month.
Rain today lashed many parts of both the states including Chandigarh, Ambala, Hisar, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Jind, Sonepat, Karnal, Fatehabad, Panipat, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Kapurthala, Phillaur, Dasuya, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Mohali.
Asked about reasons behind prolonged wet spell this year, Director of Chandigarh's Meteorological Department Surinder Paul said the frequency of 'Western Disturbances' was more this year.
"This year, the frequencies of the winds which come from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and move eastwards, causing rain and snowfall, has been more and these have been quite active as well. Also, we have observed that these systems have been covering large areas," he told PTI.

Paul said that tomorrow mainly dry weather will prevail in the two states while light showers can be expected in few pockets on April 10 and 11 followed by dry weather thereafter.
The current spell of untimely rain is considered harmful for wheat crop as it could affect the yield adversely.

Punjab and Haryana, the major foodgrain growing states, had already sought financial assistance from the Centre for farmers whose crop suffered damage because of untimely rain and hailstorm.
The two states had projected the loss caused to standing Rabi crops in 2,94,177 hectares and 18 lakh hectares because of rain and hailstorm in February and March and are estimating yield loss in wheat crop because of inclement weather conditions.

Punjab has projected wheat output of 168 lakh tonnes for the current season. Haryana is expecting wheat production of 113.9 lakh tonnes as against last season's production of 118 lakh tonnes.
Expressing a fear of heavy loss of crops, Subegh Singh, a Ludhiana-based farmer said, "The farmers are already facing numerous hardships and now the weather is playing games with us. We are just keeping our fingers crossed".