Rain lashes Amritsar city, mercury dips

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 13

Rain lashed the city in the early morning hours on Sunday. Some areas of the city witnessed light showers till noon.

Residents got the much-needed respite from the scorching heat with a dip in the day temperature. The maximum temperature was recorded 32 degrees Celsius in the city.

Though the paddy transplantation started on June 10, farmers are waiting for more rain to start transplantation. The majority of fields have not been irrigated yet. The shortage of migrant labour is also one of the reasons that farmers have not started puddling.

With moderate rain in periphery areas, the vegetable growers in Majitha and Jandiala areas have started the puddling of fields and preparing for paddy transplantation.

Harjeet Singh, a farmer from Khankot village, said, “We have ploughed the fields and prepared for puddling. There was good rain in the wee hours. We puddled two acres and the paddy is being transplanted. These pre-monsoon showers are enough to start the transplantation of paddy.”

Sukhbir Singh, an agriculture expert, said, “The farmers, who are aware of the environmental crisis and depleting groundwater levels in the state, are ready to transplant the paddy even after June 20. The monsoon is around the corner. If we plant paddy after June 20, we don’t need much groundwater. The rain is sufficient to feed the crop.”

Owing to the shortage of labour, a number of farmers have adopted direct sowing of rice crops.