Lucknow, June 24 (Inditop.com) Severe heat wave conditions Wednesday prevailed in parts of Uttar Pradesh, where the arrival of the monsoon has been delayed.
The monsoon currents are moving slowly towards Uttar Pradesh. Taking this into account, the state Met office had earlier announced that the monsoon would arrive by June 26, but now they say it will be delayed till June 30.
“The monsoon has already progressed into Gujarat and it is expected to reach eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh in the next five-six days,” said state Met Director J.P Gupta.
Though the monsoon has been delayed in the past, state Met officials said a further delay in the arrival of the monsoon could make the situation alarming in parts of the state, where the temperature is hovering between 42-46 degrees Celsius.
Sultanpur district, about 135-km from Lucknow has been the worse hit by the severe heat conditions. “As of now, the highest temperature (46.2 degrees Celsius) has been recorded in Sultanpur district,” said Gupta.
On Tuesday, the state capital Lucknow recorded a temperature of 44.4 degrees Celsius, Agra recorded 45 degrees, Jhansi 44.7, Allahabad 44.3, Kanpur 44.1 and Varanasi 44.6.
The delayed monsoon and severe heat conditions have become a cause of concern for farmers.
According to the state agriculture department, last year before June 15, nearly 3.44 lakh hectares of land was under cultivation for various crops. However, this year it has been reduced to just 2.53 lakh hectares.
“Paddy crop would be worst hit by the prevailing weather conditions. In Uttar Pradesh and most parts of India, farmers depend on the rain-fed traditional method for transplanting paddy crops,” K.B. Trivedi, an agricultural scientist, told IANS Wednesday.
“In terms of agriculture, the delay in monsoon has not made the situation alarming for UP. However, if the situation continues to persist till the first week of July, it can lead to serious problems,” principal secretary of irrigation Harminder Raj Singh said.
