The shadow of drought is looming in Maharashtra. Half of June has passed but monsoon is missing from here. Farmers are troubled by the warning of El Nino. It is extremely hot here. Shiv Sena UBT has expressed concern about this in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’. The time of Mrig Nakshatra has almost passed, still there is no sign of monsoon in Maharashtra. Generally there is good rain in Mriga Nakshatra. Now the monsoon has already passed the auspicious time of 7th June of Mrig Nakshatra. But now, even after 15th June, Maharashtra, which is scorching due to heat wave, has started feeling the heat of drought due to lack of rain. The World Meteorological Organization has already warned of the activation of a dangerous weather condition named El Nino. However, sometimes such scientific warnings or weather predictions prove to be false in front of nature. There are many examples of such estimates often proving wrong. Nevertheless, this time unfortunately this history of the Meteorological Department seems to be proving absolutely true.
After the timely arrival of monsoon in Andaman in the first week of June, the journey of monsoon from Kerala to Karnataka happened like every year. In such a situation, the crisis of El Nino will be averted and monsoon will reach Mumbai and Western Maharashtra on time. From there, it was expected that there would be heavy rain of Mriga Nakshatra in Marathwada and Vidarbha. But after June 6 the situation changed. The pace of monsoon suddenly slowed down. Monsoon got stuck on the border of Maharashtra-Goa. Due to the unnatural increase in the temperature of the surface water of the Pacific Ocean i.e. El Nino effect, the arrival of rains got delayed.
there will be less rain
Without reaching Mumbai first, the monsoon will enter the shortcut Marathwada-Vidarbha from Karnataka via Sangli, Solapur, and then enter Mumbai later. One such speculation was also made by experts. But that estimate was also ruined by the monsoon. Due to El Nino, there will be a long delay in rain this year and overall rainfall this year will be less. This prediction of the World Meteorological Organization seems to be true. Mrig Nakshatra is going dry, so now all the hopes of the farmers are pinned on Ardra Nakshatra starting from June 22. In fact, every year by June 15, more than half of the sowing is either completed or farmers are waiting for sowing to get moisture in the land.
But this year there is no trace of sowing due to absence of monsoon showers anywhere in Maharashtra. This year Maharashtra and the country faced the hottest summer season in the last 40-50 years. Due to this heat wave, fields and barns got scorched, wells dried up, countless ponds dried up, the water stock in the state’s dams came down to only 25 percent. There are a total of 3,027 small and big dams in Maharashtra. The status of water reserves in these dams has fallen to dangerous levels. Only 12.47 percent water is left in the seven major dams that supply water to Mumbai.
water storage of dams
It is going down rapidly, hence the Water Resources Department of Maharashtra Government has given instructions to stop the agricultural water and keep the water of the dams safe only for drinking. If there is sporadic rain at one or two places, do not rush in sowing, wait till the soil remains moist, this is the advice given by the government to the farmers. Well, farmers who have been farming for years are already aware of this. He does not dare to sow unless there are two or four heavy rains.
There was heavy rain in the beginning and later it disappeared, only then the farmers have to face the problem of sowing again. But the monsoon betrayed us early this year, so forget sowing anywhere in rural areas; There is no visible movement of prior preparation. Due to the betrayal of monsoon, the shadow of drought has started looming over Maharashtra, which was already scorched by the heat wave. Due to the increased temperature of the Pacific Ocean and the conditions necessary for increasing rainfall in the Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal being neutral, the risk of El Nino’s effect becoming worse has increased. This natural crisis of El Nino, the biggest in 150 years, is a sign of less rainfall and severe drought. Farmers, general public and the government should also be prepared to face this from now on.
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