Water the biggest worry: Assam, Meghalaya inundated; north India thirsty

If in north India and New Delhi people and farmers are praying for the outbreak of monsoon then in Assam and Meghalaya residents are inundated as flood plays havoc. The situation in Assam and Meghalaya is so serious that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi visited the area to take stock of things.

About Rs 500 crore-package has been unrolled for the regions’ villagers, who have been marooned because of the flood flurry. Some 2,166 villages are cut off and more than 19.37 lakh people are hit by floods that have devoured lives of 77 people. Nearly five lakh people have become homeless. Water has turned out to be biggest tormentor for many Indians this year.

If the situation in these two regions are disturbing due to water, many parts of north India is battling drought like situation as rain is yet to come. People living in about 74 per cent land of the country continue to wait for the rain to lash out their parched ground.

There are fears that a delayed monsoon would have a debilitating impact on India’s economy with tones of crops getting dried up under the blistering heat. Also the late arrival of South-West monsoon may hit hard the Kharif crop. The situation has sparked a debate about how to tackle the situation at a time when the economy too has slowed down.

But the Met department is optimistic of rain. It is understood that 98 per cent rainfall in July and 96 per cent in August will control the damage.

Farmers too are waiting for the sky to open up. And people living in Delhi and other overcrowded metropolis too are praying for the rain so that the increasing temperature could come down, bringing in relief from the searing heat.