It is unfortunate that the Government of Assam has not yet been able to fully prepare itself to mitigate the sufferings of the people during floods and on most occasions, the concerned departments of the Government start the preparations to deal with the natural calamity only during the monsoon season. Last year, the State faced one of the worst ever floods, which affected all but one district of the State, but till now, most of the flood prone districts are not well equipped to deal with such a situation.

the Indian Meteorological Department (imd) has predicted a normal monsoon for this year. But such predictions are known to fail often. A recent study says predictions fail because most models do not

Southwest monsoon missed its date with the Kerala coast on Thursday but a top weather scientist sought to play the incident down saying it was not a "sign of worry.' "True, the onset over Kerala has not happened,' Ajit Tyagi, Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. The IMD had earlier forecast that the southwest monsoon will hit the Kerala coast on May 29, four days ahead of its normal June 1 onset.

Though officially the onset of monsoon in the country is yet to be declared, the northern limit of monsoon has touched the extreme south/ southeast part of Bangladesh close to Mizoram. The normal date of onset of monsoon over Kerala Coast is June 1, while over the city of Guwahati, the onset normally takes place on June 5. By June 6, NE region is generally covered by monsoon. However, variation of seven days in this respect is quite possible, said H Pathak, Director of the Regional Meteorology Centre (RMC) here.

Here is some cheering news on the monsoon front. The countdown has finally begun for its onset over Kerala. According to the India Meteorological Department, conditions are fast becoming ripe for the system to set in during the next 3-4 days. The normal date of the onset is June 1. Experts at the IMD said numerical weather prediction models indicated that the west-south-westerly cross-equatorial wind flows from the southern hemisphere, which bring in the monsoon, were steadily becoming faster and deeper. Wind speed

Although the panchayat elections have ended, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is still feeling the after-effects with delayed work projects. There has been a labour shortage since many workers went back to their homes to vote which has been delaying the dredging work being carried out by the civic body in collaboration with the state government. Officials felt they are fighting a losing battle to avoid water logging in the city during the monsoon.

Corporators claim work will not be complete by May-end deadline, officials say desilting and dredging will continue during rains While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's officials have made repeated assurances that the major drains will be thoroughly desilted in time for the monsoon, the ground reality at various nullahs across the city presents a different view. Meanwhile, pre-monsoon showers have already hit Mumbai and the monsoon is set to arrive in a little over two weeks.

S&T, agriculture ministries hold the key to exploiting a good monsoon to augment food production

WITH the advent of the monsoon around the corner, Thane Municipal Corporation has undertaken a slew of measures to brace up for the likely deluge. The TMC has been granted permission by the district authorities in view of the model code of conduct in the wake of the by polls to the Thane parliamentary seat to carry out essential public works to brace up for the forthcoming monsoons.