Bangalore Urban, Kolar and Udupi
districts have not been lucky
enough to get the normal pre-
monsoon showers from March 1 till
Saturday.
Elsewhere, lightning, which is a
typical phenomenon during the
pre-monsoon period, has left 28
persons and 75 cattle dead. The
highest deaths due to lightning
has been in Tumkur (six), followed
by Gadag where five persons have
died. In the last three days alone,
13 persons have died, according to
statistics furnished by the Revenue
department on Saturday.
Udupi district is the only one
among the three coastal districts
to receive scanty rain, said B
Puttanna, director of the Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD),
Bangalore. The deficit was 69 per
cent in the district.
North Karnataka, Interior Karnataka
and South Karnataka have received
normal to excess pre-monsoon
showers from April 16 till date.
Among the 30 districts, Kodagu,
Mysore, Chikkaballapur and
Bangalore Rural have received
normal showers, while three
districts - Bangalore Urban, Kolar
and Udupi - below normal to
scanty. The rest of the 23 districts
have received excess rains, the
director said.
The State, on the whole, has
received 42.6 mm rain, while the
average this season is 24.3 mm.
This means that the State has
received 75 per cent more than the
average rain.
In case of North Interior Karnataka,
comprising 11 districts including
Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gadag and
Yadgir, 42.3 mm rain has been
received, registering 122 per cent
more than the average. As many as
16 districts in South Interior
Karnataka have witnessed 60 per
cent more rain than the average of
30 mm.
Puttanna said deaths due to
lightning are not rare during the
pre-monsoon period. "About 100
deaths due to lightning is a
common thing. The weather bureau
issues repeated warnings to
people not to stand beneath trees
or buildings which have no
earthing facility. But still, they
continue to do this,” he said.
He said, but for the ongoing Lok
Sabha elections, the IMD would
have announced the monsoon
forecast for this year by April 16.
Usually monsoon enters Karnataka
by June 5, and Bangalore receives
its highest rainfall from September
to October.
"The summer is normal and in
some districts, it is severe. So, we
can expect a normal monsoon in
the State,” the director said.
Tumkur Deputy Commissioner K S
Sathyamurthy said that the
election model code of conduct,
which is in force, did not come in
the way of payment of ex gratia to
the legal heirs of those who have
died due to lightning.
"The ex gratia fixed for the loss of
human life is Rs 1.5 lakh and to
the owners of cattle that die, it is
Rs 25,000,” he said.
http://m.deccanherald.com/content/400561/excess-pre-monsoon-showers-23.html/
