The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

DELHI

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Extremes
Town	Max (in Celsius)	Min (in Celsius)

Ambala	27.6	10.7
Amritsar	27.6	8.8
Bhuntar	25.0	6.0
Hisar	—	13.1
Jammu	—	13.2
Karnal	26.8	8.0
Ludhiana	28.2	7.0
Patiala	28.7	10.5
Rohtak	—	9.5
Shimla	18.0	8.0
Srinagar	—	2.5
Sundernagar	26.9	7.6

NATION

Read under headings Max (maximum temperature), Min (minimum temperature), R (rainfall in past 24 hours) and TR (total rainfall):

Stations	Max	Min	R	TR
Ahmedabad	35	15	0	0
Bangalore	33	20	0	0
Bhopal	27	17	1	3
Bhubaneswar	35	23	0	0
Chennai	33	24	0	0
Dehra Dun	28	12	0	0
Gangtok	21	10	0	0
Guwahati	33	16	0	0
Hyderabad	35	20	0	0
Jaipur	30	14	0	0
Kolkata	33	23	0	0
Lucknow	30	12	0	0
Mumbai	32	23	0	0
New Delhi	29	10	0	0
Panjim	32	24	0	0
Patna	29	15	0	0
Shillong	23	12	0	0
Thiruvananthapuram	34	25	0	0

Scanty rainfall hits Kandi farmers
Ravinder Sud

Hoshiarpur, March 2
The Kandi belt in this district is facing a drought-like situation for the past three months. A majority of farmers could not even sow wheat during the rabi season.

Dr Kulbir Singh Deol, Chief Agriculture Officer, Hoshiarpur, said yesterday that about 20,000 hectares in four tehsils were entirely depended on the rainfall. Though seven mini-dams and the Kandi canal had been constructed for providing water, these dams had almost dried up. He said only 10.5mm intermittent rainfall had been recorded in the past two months. At least 10mm continuous rainfall was required.

Dr Deol said 1.36 lakh hectares were being irrigated through tubewells and 8,301 hectares through canals. The water level had gone down considerably due to which 12,000 submersible tubewells had been installed. Besides, 62,230 tubewells were also functioning in the district.

Ms Sarabjit Kaur of Kaharpur village urged the government to provide subsidy to the small farmers for the installation of tubewells.

Mr Amar Singh of Daulatpur Gillan village urged the government to create new avenues for them so that they could earn their livelihood in a respected manner.

Mr Des Raj Dhugga, MLA, Garhdiwala, said the Kandi canal from its headworks at the Mukerian hydel channel to Naloian was not supplying regular water. A portion of the canal had been damaged, causing obstacles in the flow of water. He demanded immediate repair of the canal and special girdawri.

Mr D.K. Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, said affected farmers should give representations to their respective SDMs. He had also instructed the Chief Agriculture Officer to visit the area and submit his report to him.