No rain hope for 2 more days: Met

The Met department,however,said a low pressure area over northern Madhya Pradesh and southern Uttar Pradesh is bringing good rainfall in the central and north-western parts of the country.

“For western Maharashtra and Pune,conditions as of now will remain the same with no low pressure build-up being noticed. We have to wait and watch,’’ said Medha Khole,IMD deputy director-general.

She,however,said the Met department did not see any El Nino as yet to press any panic button. “Unlike in Pune,there is fairly widespread rainfall in Vidarbha,Marathwada and Konkan and some central areas of the state. The South-West monsoon has advanced over Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan and will cover the remaining parts of the country and the entire north region in the next 3-4 days.

The situation continues to be grim in Pune city,with the depleting dams leading to concern. On Monday,the irrigation department recorded 1.68 TMC in the four dams-Khadakwasla,Temghar,Varasgaon and Panshet- that supply water to the city,as against 6.62 TMC last year. The department is waiting for good rainfall in the catchment areas before July 15,when Deputy Chief Minister and District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar is scheduled to review the water situation. On Monday,there was no rainfall in the catchment areas of the dams. Since June,Khadakwasla has recorded only 47 mm rainfall,Panshet recorded 359 mm,Varasgaon 391 mm and Temghar 407 mm.

Pawar,after reviewing the water availability last week had said he hoped there would be good rainfall before the next review or else Pune would have to go for water supply once in two days so that the dam water lasts till August.