Monsoon rains drench Gujarat as sowing picks up.

Gandhinagar, June 24:  

As widespread and torrential rains drenched large parts of Gujarat during the last 24 hours, farmers accelerated sowing of Kharif crops, including groundnut and cotton, mainly in the Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions of the western state where monsoon is now active.

There were no reports of any major loss of life or property so far. However, traffic jams due to water logging and fallen trees were reported from many a place as rivers and rivulets swelled. In some low-lying areas, that got inundated, people were shifted to safer places, a government official said here on Wednesday.

Reports from Rajkot said the farmers had already completed sowing of groundnut, cotton and other Kharif crops in about three lakh hectares by last week. With monsoon active now, sowing is set to accelerate in the coming days.

Village Bagsara in the coastal district of Amreli received the maximum rains, 20 inches (500 mms), during the last 24 hours, ended 8 am on Wednesday. In Una, in the adjoining district of Gir-Somnath, over 325 mm of rains were recorded as the coastal Saurashtra region received heavy rains.

In Gir Forest, some Asiatic lions were reported stranded due to heavy rains that left parts of the protected forest submerged. In all, Saurashtra has already received an average of about 25% rains this season due to which several dams were now overflowing. This has also solved the region’s drinking water and irrigation problems.

Monsoon was now progressing towards the North Gujarat districts of Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Banaskantha and Sabarkantha. However, the arid district of Kutch was yet to experience its first heavy rain. The South Gujarat region has so far received about 14% of the season’s rains.

(This article was published on June 24, 2015)

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