By IANS,
Lucknow : People in Uttar Pradesh, where 47 of the 71 districts have been declared drought-hit, can expect some relief in the coming days as the met department has forecast widespread rains in most parts of the state.
“The trough line passing from over the state is receiving constant moisture feed from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and would bring rains to the state in the coming days,” said director of the state met department J.P. Gupta.
According to the met department, intensity of rainfall in the next three-four days is likely to be more in the eastern parts of the state in comparison to the western regions of Uttar Pradesh.
As per the reports reaching the state met headquarters, rainfall was recorded Wednesday at several places.
While Moradabad recorded 19 mm rainfall, Jaunpur received 16.6 mm, Amethi 120 mm, Sultanpur 99.5 mm and Hardoi 69 mm. In Lucknow 40 mm rainfall was recorded.
The met department has forecast cloudy skies, rainfall and thundershowers in parts of the Uttar Pradesh. Such weather conditions are expected to stay for three-four days.
According to the agriculture directorate, nearly six million hectares of land was to be used for paddy but now only 5.2 million hectares is expected to be sown with the crop.
With scanty rains, the agriculture department expects 20-30 percent drop in the kharif crop yield. Paddy production is expected to be 13.1 million metric tonnes against the target of 13.5 million metric tonnes and the production of coarse grain is expected to be 24.5 million tonnes against 25.4 million tonnes.