Met dept hopeful monsoon will pick up mid-July

Though Pune and some other parts of the state are waiting for the monsoon to pick up strength,the Met department is optimistic that July would be better than June in terms of rainfall.

L S Rathore,director-general of the India Meteorological Department,said conditions should improve this month. I am optimistic that conditions will improve in these parts. Though there will be scanty rainfall over the next five days,the situation should be better in the latter half of the month, he said.

A ray of hope is that the Met department has reiterated that El Nino conditions,which adversely affect monsoon rainfall in India,are not seen at present. Rathore said a good spell of rain should help raise levels at dams.

He said large-scale variation in rainfall is observed every monsoon and a detailed analysis is done at the end of each season. Rathore defended the Met departments long-range forecast,which had predicted normal rainfall for the country. Peninsular India,however,is badly hit, he conceded.

Parts of south Karnataka,Madhya Maharashtra,Gujarat and Haryana are semi-arid regions,which,too,are affected,he said. At present,a low pressure area has formed over Madhya Pradesh,because of which there is good rainfall seen in the north and north-eastern parts of the country,he added.

According to the Met departments weekly report,of the 36 meteorological subdivisions,10 have received excess rainfall,17 have received deficient rainfall and nine have had scanty rainfall. Overall,72 per cent of the country has received scanty rainfall.

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