Buoyed by excess rainfall this month, water level in reserves across the country rose 11% till Thursday from a year before and remained 46% higher than a benchmark 10-year average, showed the data compiled by the ministry of water resources. This has brightened sowing prospects of kharif crops, the coverage of which dropped 7.4% until June 19 from the same period last year.
According to the data, water storage across 91 reservoirs touched 43.23 billion cubic metres (bcm) up to Thursday, compared with 38.93 bcm a year earlier and the normal average of 29.70 bcm.
The current reserves are 27% of the total live storage capacity of these reservoirs, while at the same time last year, the reservoirs were to the tune of 25% of the capacity.
Monsoon rains 28% above normal
The south-west monsoon reached Delhi and other north Indian states, including the grain-bowl regions of Punjab and Haryana, on Thursday, few days ahead of their normal onset dates, as rainfall exceeded the long-period average (LPA) by 28%.
The quantum of rainfall during the June 1-25 period has been 159.2 millimetres, compared with the LPA of 124.6 mm, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The LPA which was calculated on the basis of a 50-year average shower.
Seasonal showers have improved drastically in the past few days–from a 1% drop from the LPA up to June 11 to a rise of 10% from the benchmark average until June 18 to 28% now.
“The southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, east Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi and parts of west Rajasthan,” IMD said in a statement. Last week, the seasonal showers had lashed key producing regions of oil-seeds, pulses and cotton.
The central India has received the maximum amount of rain, 55% higher than the LPA, while the south peninsular has witnessed 30% more than the normal showers so far. The north-western region has received 27% more rainfall than the normal while the north-eastern states have witnessed 3% more rainfall than the normal.
However, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are only two regions which have received deficient rainfall (below 90% of the LPA) so far.