Ahmedabad:The withdrawal of monsoon in Gujarat this year also has been delayed like last seven years in a row.

The normal period for onset of South West Monsoon in Gujarat is September 15 and its starts from Kutch region and in a matter of few days it leaves all parts of the state. But since 2011 it is not happening on time.

Senior meteorologist at IMD center here, Ms Manorama Mohanty said that the onset of withdrawal has not started as yet and there was no likelihood of it in next around a week’s time.

‘There was likelihood of formation of yet another low pressure over the bay of Bengal and only after passing of that the onset of withdrawal might start. At this juncture it was difficult to say whether there would be any increased rainfall activity in Gujarat due to the low pressure phenomenon,’ She said.

Notably the state is still deprived of more than one fourth of its average rainfall this year.

Gujarat till date has received only 74.03% of rain and it seems less likely that it would complete its normal quota this year with no likelihood of any good monsoon rain in the coming few days.

Kutch region has seen only 26.51% and two of its talukas have seen less than 10% with Lakhpat so far seeing as low as 3.44%. Rapar has seen 5.65%. The third such taluka (only three were in single digit figures) was Vav in Banaskantha district of North Gujarat with 5.56%. North Gujarat as a region has also seen only 42.94% rain so far.

East Central Gujarat has seen 66.92%, Saurashtra 72.48% and South Gujarat 94.97%. In percentage terms Gir Somnath with 139.85% was at the top while in actual amount term Valsad 2263 mm (101.69%) was number one. Navsari (109.77%), Bharuch (101.84) and Anand (101.80) were the other three districts of more than normal rain so far. Surat, Dangs and Junagadh have seen over 90%.

Last year the monsoon had arrived in Gujarat on June 12, three days before normal date of June 15 and the withdrawal had started from September 27, almost 12 days after the normal date. The total rainfall last year was more than 110%.

This year the monsoon had arrived almost a week late on June 22.

Due to scanty rain the state government has ordered continuous release of Narmada water in irrigation canals to save the standing crops in various regions.

DeshGujarat