By SANTOSH MOHANTY
The agrarian community of Angul district have become despondent after the severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' did not bring rain with it leaving them high and dry.
The weather scientists had predicted that torrential rain will lash several parts of Odisha due to 'Asani', but that did not come true. A few drops here and there rather escalated the heat wave condition.
In this backdrop, the Met office in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi have predicted that the monsoon will break early and the amount of rainfall will be encouraging. However, there seems to be few takers for such forecasts. The farmers of Odisha have hesitated to rely on the forecast of meteorological wing of the state as the prediction has gone wrong over the years.
The prediction of weather officials have gone wrong since 2016 as the state has been experiencing poor rainfall leading to severe drought. A large chunk of farmers in Angul have failed to perform 'Akshya Tritiya' due to want of rain on that day which is regarded as auspicious to sow seeds for a good harvest. As morning shows the day, the farmers have realized that this year too they will not have a good yield due ongoing drought-like situation.
The weather scientists like Prof Surendranath Pashupalak and Umashanker Das are of the view that summer season this year has not witnessed hailstorms like previous years. Formation of low pressures over Bay of Bengal are limited this year that has contributed to the prevailing dry spell for quite some months.
Like any other region in the world, Odisha is also in the grip of Global Warming, but the state government has failed to initiate measures to counter the bad effects on agriculture especially in environmentally sensitive regions like Angul where air and water are contaminated owing to rapid industrialization.
A number of small and medium irrigation projects in Angul district are in limbo due to lack of political will and alleged lack of cohesion between the district administration and the concerned department. The glaring example is Hidisingh irrigation project which is yet to become a reality although this issue has been dominating successive election campaigns and candidates in fray promising early action on the score. The irrigation project has failed to get environmental clearance.
