NEW DELHI/RANCHI/CHANDIGARH/PATNA/MOHALI - The rain gods smiled a little Sunday, as the much delayed monsoon finally hit Bihar - an indicator that the rain-laden clouds were moving further north. The national capital saw a whiff of change in sweltering weather with an afternoon drizzle. But the people’s angry protests continued as did power and water shortages. The situation in Punjab was no better.

The much-awaited monsoon rains hit Bihar Sunday afternoon leading to water logging in several low-lying areas of the state capital. Heavy rains also lashed other parts of Bihar.

“Monsoon rains have finally hit Bihar. Heavy rains lashed different parts of Bihar marking the arrival of monsoon,” Patna meteorological department director S.I. Lashkar said.

Lashkar said that rain will continue across the state Monday too. “In the next few hours, rains will hit many districts across the state,” he said.

In Chhattarpur block in neighbouring Jharkhand’s Palamau district, farmers, hit by drought for the fourth successive year, launched a signature campaign, seeking permission for “mercy killing” from President Pratibha Patil.

“In the 2006 drought, farmers sold their bullock cart, goats and other things. In 2007, we sold our piece of land. In the 2008 drought, we were forced to sell the jewellery of our wives. Now what should we sell in the 2009 drought? Should we sell ourselves? We may have been deprived to lead a respectable life, but we should be allowed a respectable death,” reads the four-page letter, a copy of which is with IANS.

Anger also overflowed in the national capital as residents once again took to the streets to protest power outages and water shortage.

Reeling under prolonged power outages - ranging from a couple of hours to 12 hours a day in various areas - the residents of Delhi staged angry protest demonstrations Sunday and demanded a solution.

Protests against power cuts are going on for the last few days in the national capital.

“There is no electricity since last night. More than 12 hours have passed but there is no respite. We went to the local office of these private power companies, but besides giving us assurances, they have done nothing to help anyway,” said Rajkishore Sharma, a resident of Sangam Vihar area in south Delhi.

Old-time residents and weather officials say this unrelenting heat wave could be caused by the city’s lung, the Ridge, turning barren by the day and the never-ending “concrete boom”.

Facing strong criticism for the power crisis in the capital right during the peak of summer, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Sunday promised the city the situation will improve in a few days and sternly asked the power distribution companies to improve their response time.

As if on cue to the chief minister’s words of assurance, the weather improved in the afternoon with dust storms and a drizzle in Delhi and other parts of north India that brought some relief from sweltering heat.

“Dust storms and mild thundershowers like what Delhi experienced today are precursors to the advancing monsoon,” India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Ajit Tyagi told IANS.

Though the promise of monsoon is there, the present searing heat and the resultant acute power crisis in Punjab have hit everyday life hard. People are suffering long power cuts, office timings have been changed, shopping centres ordered to shut early and industries have been asked to take 72 hours off every week to conserve power.

The mercury has been hovering between 42 and 45 degrees Celsius in most cities and towns of Punjab in the last few days.

Brushing aside fears of a drought, union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Sunday said that though the monsoon rains have been delayed this year, there is “no drought-like situation”.

“There is no drought like situation because of the delay in the monsoon and the losses would be compensated in the months of July and August… There is no need to worry,” Pawar told a television channel.

Pawar’s comments come a day after Manipur was declared a drought-hit state.

–Indo-Asian News Service

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