E-Paper
Rain tickles drought-hit Beed, but nothing funny for farmers as crops destroyed
The rainfall at the beginning of September was 51.01% of the expected seasonal average. On Tuesday, that reading had risen to 60.90%
Ten talukas of drought-hit Beed district received 19.50mm rainfall until 8 am on Tuesday. The total rainfall in the district since the beginning of June until 8 am on Tuesday was 214.7mm.
The rainfall at the beginning of September was 51.01% of the expected seasonal average. On Tuesday, that reading had risen to 60.90%.
Wadwani taluka received the maximum, with 73.5mm rainfall. Beed taluka received the second highest, with 50.1mm rainfall.
However, the one-day showers which graced the district in the last few weeks of the monsoon season did not lift water needs of the district. The water storage at the two major dams in Beed - Manjara and Majalgaon - remained at 0%.
In September 2018, Manjara dam was filled to 1.03% of its storage capacity.
“There were isolated incidents of canals filling up. But the municipal corporation has been informed about the clean up,” said Astik Kumar Pandey, Collector of Beed district. “Beed (taluka) is a rural region and overall it has recieved 50mm rainfall. Nothing will happen in this amount of rain,” he added.
“After almost no rainfall for the major part of the season, it rained for two hours on Monday at 10:30 pm. The few bajra corns in the village that had managed to sprout were destroyed in the rain,” said Ganesh Sasane, gram panchayat member of Rajuri village of Beed taluka of Beed district.
Keshav Chavan, sarpanch of Hiwara village in Ashti taluka of Beed district, which is located close to the now dry Godavari river, said, “Late in the evening yesterday (Monday), it started raining. The water did not get collected in the fields but the river got some water. The Paani foundation had helped dig up holes in the ground for rainwater collection. Those holes were filled to some extent,” said Chavan.
