Scattered rains drench region in relief

Chandigarh: Light rainfall with hailstorm gave some relief to drought-hit farmers in Hisar, Ambala, Bhiwani and Rohtak on Monday. In past few days, the temperature had crossed 46 degrees Celsius in Hisar, which dropped to 41 degrees C on Monday.
According to Met dept officials, the town also witnessed 8mm rainfall paving way for some cool breeze. In Ambala, there was 33mm rainfall while it was just 1mm in Karnal.
The showers brought smiles on the faces of wry farmers who were having a tough time dealing with the water scarcity."We were facing tough times because of the continuous heat wave. Even our animals were suffering due to adverse weather conditions," said Jagbir Dhanda, farmer from village Devsar in Bhiwani district.
Most farmers said that the scant rainfall would also be helpful in cotton crop where it has already been sown. The drought like situation has hit many parts of the state, especially southern Haryana.
An MLA from Tosham (in Bhiwani) Kiran Choudhry said that that latest figures on the demand and availability of potable water in Haryana paints a grim picture in at least nine districts — Sonipat, Jind, Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Mahendragarh and Rewari. "Many areas, especially in Bhiwani, Mahendergarh, Hisar and Jhajjar, are Laturs in the making," she added.
Referring to Bhiwani, she said against the demand for 156.95 MLD (million litres daily), only 128 MLD was being made available. "The people are thirsting for water and some areas are beginning to go without drinking water for days," said Choudhry, a former minister.
Even though the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre had, in its October 2015 report, identified Bhiwani, Hisar, Mahendragarh, Rohtak as drought-hit, the state government was yet to declare them so, robbing the farmers of their due from the Centre, she claimed.
In these four districts, according to Choudhry, the rainfall was short by more than 30%, and going by the Centre's rules, drought had to be declared if the deficiency exceeds 25% or more. In drought-hit areas, people are entitled to 150 days of work under MGNREGA against 100 days at other places. They are also entitled to supply of essential commodities at subsidized rates but nothing was done by the state government, Choudhry claimed.
A senior officer of state revenue department said that they had not received inputs about the drought from the deputy commissioners as yet. "Though, we have asked the DCs to examine any such claims," added the official.