Amritsar, July 18
Heavy rain brought the much-needed relief to residents of the holy city and surrounding areas today, who had been reeling under a dry spell since the last month. The rain accompanied by wind lasted about one-and-half-hour.
Interestingly, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) was planning to bathe the Baba Atal minar, highest structure in the city, as the myth had it that the bathing of the minar was a sure way to bring rains to the city.
Besides Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti
offering ardas for the much-needed rainfall, prayers were also being held in other religious places in the city.
FEROZEPORE: Ferozepore and its surrounding areas received rain on Thursday afternoon, bringing cheer to farmers, who were on the verge of re-sowing their crops.
It is worth mentioning that in the district 8,32,000 metric tonnes of paddy was expected in 2002 but due to a continuous dry spell for weeks the output was likely to decline drastically.
CHANDIGARH: The south-west monsoon, which has been playing truant, is likely to set in in plains of the northwest region over the next 48 hours, according to meteorological office here on Thursday.
Weather Bureau Director S.C. Bhan said conditions had become favourable for revival, covering the entire region following low pressure area building up near the Orissa coast. Besides the monsoon trough in its normal condition was passing through Sri Ganganagar, Pillani (Rajasthan), Jhansi (Madhya Pradesh) and south-eastward into Bay of Bengal. This was likely to cause moderate to rather heavy rains at many a place in Himachal Pradesh and few places in Haryana and Punjab over the next 48 hours, he added.
Most of Himachal Pradesh had widespread fresh light to moderate rains in the past 24 hours with RL-1700 (station along catchment area of the Sutlej) reporting 30.1 mm rain followed by Solang Nallah (15 mm), Kahu (12 mm), Barthin (11 mm), Rampur (6.8 mm), Nahan (5.6 mm), Sundernagar (4.8 mm), Dharamsala, and Pandoh (4 mm) each.
