Rainfall to be below normal as govt plans contingency measures

New Delhi:

Rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2014 southwest monsoon season (June to September) is likely to be below normal (90-96% of long period average (LPA)) however adequate and timely arrangements will be made to counter the emerging  adverse effect, if any, according to Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh.

The forecast prepared by the Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) under the India Meteorological Department (IMD) , Ministry of Earth Sciences in detail is as under:

Rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2014 southwest monsoon season (June to September) is likely to be below normal (90-96% of LPA).

n   Quantitatively, monsoon season rainfall for the country as a whole is likely to be 93% of the long period average with a model error of ±4%.Ø  Region wise, the season rainfall is likely to be

n  85% of LPA over North-West India, 94% of LPA over Central India, 93% of LPA over South Peninsula and 99% of LPA over North-East India all with a model error of ± 8 %.

n  The monthly rainfall over the country as whole is likely to be 93% of its LPA during July and 96% of LPA during August both with a model error of ± 9

Basin wise storage position as on May 29,2014 was as follows:

The storage position in Ganga, Indus, Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Rivers of Kutch, Godavari, Mahanadi and neighbouring East Flowing Rivers and West Flowing Rivers of South was better than normal. It was close to normal in Sabarmati, deficient in Cauvery and neighbouring East Flowing Rivers and highly deficient in Krishna.

Central Water Commission monitors storage position of 85 important reservoirs spread all over the country, of which as many as 37 reservoirs are having significant hydro-power benefits with installed capacities of more than 60 MW each.