Unlike last year when there was a huge deficit, monsoon rains in Punjab were normal this year, but in neighbouring Haryana the rains were down by 23 per cent.

This year, the south-west monsoon had arrived nearly a fortnight before its normal schedule.

Actual rainfall received by Punjab between June 1 and September 29 was 480 mm against a normal of 489.9 mm, down just by 2 per cent, which is considered as normal, an official of the Chandigarh Meteorological Department told PTI today.

He said that Faridkot district had received the maximum amount of rainfall during the period at 633.4 mm against a normal of 323.7 mm, which was 96 per cent in excess.

Heavy rains had caused floods in some districts of Punjab, including Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.

However, the MeT official said that Sangrur had received scanty rains of 229.2 mm against a normal of 435.9 mm, down by 47 per cent.

During the period, Haryana had received 354.1 mm of rains against a normal of 459.5 mm, showing a deficit of 23 per cent.

Yamunanagar district, which witnessed floods this year, had received plenty of rains of 1,055.5 mm against a normal of 890.6 mm, surplus by 19 per cent.

On the other hand, Kurukshetra district had received just 220.3 mm during the June-September period against a normal of 562.7 mm, resulting in 61 per cent deficiency, he said.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two States, received 791.3 mm rains this year against a normal of 842.7 mm, less by 6 per cent.

Last year, the monsoon rains had been deficient by nearly 46 per cent in Punjab, 39 per cent in Haryana and 9 per cent in Chandigarh.

The MeT official informed that the monsoon has now withdrawn from entire Punjab, J&K and Himachal Pradesh and from many parts of Haryana.

While the normal date of arrival of monsoon in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh is between June 29-July 5, this year it had hit the region on June 16.

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