Drought looming large over Orissa

With three districts in Orissa receiving less than 50 per cent rainfall from June 1 to July 29 and eight other districts having rainfall deficiency in the range of 30-50 per cent, the state is almost staring at a drought like situation, reliving memory of last year when 17 districts were declared 'drought hit'.

The department of revenue and disaster management is however waiting till the first week of September before officially declaring some districts as drought affected.

"Three districts in the state- Boudh, Malkangiri and Nuapada have got less than 50 per cent rains till the end of July. We are going to wait till the first week of September and if the situation does not improve by then, we will be forced to declare some districts as drought hit. Last year, 17 districts in the state were declared as drought affected and we had provided relief to these districts", minister for revenue & disaster management S N Patra told reporters.

 

While Boudh has received less than 62 per cent rainfall, the deficiency in rainfall in Malkangiri and Nuapada districts stands at 51.3 per cent and 56.4 per cent respectively.

As against the anticipated normal rainfall of 625.3 mm, the actual rainfall in Boudh has been only 237.9 mm. Similarly Malkangiri and Nuapada districts have recorded actual rainfall of only 315.3 mm and 233.2 mm by the end of July compared to the anticipated rainfall of 647.9 mm and 535 mm.

The eight districts where rainfall deficiency has been in the range of 30-50 per cent include Angul (36.8 per cent), Bargarh (47.5 per cent), Bolangir (46.1 per cent), Deogarh (42.2 per cent), Jharsuguda (35 per cent), Koraput (38.2 per cent), Kalahandi (40.2 per cent) and Sonepur (34.2 per cent).

Only five districts in the state have received more than anticipated normal rainfall- Bhadrak, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Keonjhar.

The cumulative rainfall recorded in the state during June 1-July 29 stood at 407.4 mm, 23.8 per cent short of the anticipated normal rainfall of 534.5 mm. In June, the state recorded 213.1 mm of rainfall close to the anticipated rainfall of 216.5 mm. The deficiency in rainfall, however, was pronounced in July where the actual recorded rainfall was only 194.3 mm as against the normal rainfall of 318 mm anticipated for the month.