October rains play Diwali dampener

Met warns of festival washout after 3-day downpour. And yes, brace for a 20% rise in food prices too

Met warns of festival washout after 3-day downpour. And yes, brace for a 20% rise in food prices too

On September 9, the Centre and the state declared 278 districts in the country drought affected, which included 37 districts in Maharashtra.

A month later, almost all these areas in the state have been receiving heavy rains, which bizarrely enough is not good news. The fact is, the October rains, have directly ensured that Diwali on October 17 is a damp squib.

Explaining why, K Satidevi, director Mumbai MET department, said, "In normal conditions, the monsoon starts withdrawing from the north by September 1 and concurrently, from Maharashtra by October 15.

But this time, the monsoon from the north began withdrawing only after September 25, which will have a fallout in Maharashtra too."

But then again, given that weather is unpredictable, it may suddenly cease raining.

On Cloud Nine: All it takes is a rainy day to make us stop and appreciate the city, as this man does at Priyadarshini Park in Malabar Hill yesterday.

However, prices of vegetables and foodgrains have already seen an almost 100 per cent rise compared with the same time last year.

The prices are not expected to fall any time soon and in fact, may rise even more as Diwali draws nearer.

Ashok Walunj, director of the wholesale APMC market at Vashi, said, "Prices will rise if the rains don't stop.

The price of sugar, one of the mainstays during Diwali, has increased over 80 per cent to Rs 32 per kg. Prices of leafy vegetables have gone up by 100 per cent.

Prabhakar Deshmukh, agriculture commissioner, explained, "Over thousands ofu00a0 hectares of crops have been washed away in Maharashtra because of the rains in the last few days.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that in Sindhudurg district alone more than 5,000 hectares of standing crops have been affected.

In Ratnagiri district more than 400 hectares of rice paddy has been washed away and in Solapur the farmers had to re-sow 60,000 hectares of Jowar fields, which had been planted just 15 days ago," said Deshmukh.

Manjushree Tadvalkar, CEO, Inora Institute for Natural Organic Agriculture, a Pune-based agriculture research firm, said, "If these heavy showers continue, the standing crops will be washed away.

The price of a bunch of spinach has increased by 100 per cent to Rs 8 per bunch."

Said Medha Khole, director, Indian Meteorological Department, "We have received just 77 per cent of expected rainfall, 23 per cent below normal the second lowest rainfall in the last 100 years.

The reasons involved will be part of a detailed report. The late arrival of monsoon is only one factor."

Added B P Yadav also from the IMD, "The country is hugely dependent on monsoons, but the trend hasu00a0 changed in most parts of the country.

We are now seeing an unprecedented patternu00a0intense spells of rain over short spans."

Meanwhile, decision on upping the 15 per cent water cut has not been taken yet, said BMC Chief Hydraulic Engineer, Dinesh Gondalia.

Voices

I will make Diwali sweets at home and shore up my stock as prices are expected to go up.
Savita Joshi, Vidyavihar

I won't cut down on basic Diwali preparations like sweets and decorations. Other luxuries will be avoided.
Harsha Shah, Ghatkopar

1 lakh hectares
Farm land destroyed in Maharashtra, which equals 11,250 Wankhede stadiums.

50
Casualties due to flood in the state since Saturday.

133 mm
Rain in Colaba u00a0since October 1, which is 1/4th of the rainfall recorded in August (545 mm).

111.2 mm
Rain recorded in Santacruz since October 1.

Weather today
Spells of thundershowers with possibility of heavy rain in for the next 48 hours. Maharashtra floods have claimed 50 lives

20%
The rise in prices of foodgrains in the last five days.

Price rise	Now	4 days ago
Onion:	Rs 26/kg	Rs 20/kg
Potato:	Rs 20/kg	Rs 16/kg
Sugar:	Rs 32/kg	Rsu00a0 28/kg

(With inputs from Shashank Shekhar and Kaumudi Gurjar)