Nation

IIE DIGITAL DESK ; New Delhi and Shimla, June 18: The monsoon season officially began on June 4 this year, large parts of the country are still waiting for rainfall. Black monsoon clouds have yet to appear over major regions such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, and a significant portion of North India.

Monsoon cloud activity is currently concentrated over the Bay of Bengal, Northeast India, and the equatorial Indian Ocean region. Due to this delay, the first half of the monsoon season has recorded nearly a 40 percent rainfall deficit, raising growing concerns about agriculture across vast areas of the country.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has stated that around June 23, the southwest monsoon is likely to advance further into parts of Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, and some areas of Chhattisgarh. Meanwhile, several states continue to suffer under intense heat conditions. Heatwave-like situations are expected to persist until June 21 in parts of Madhya Pradesh, until June 20 in Vidarbha, and until June 19 in Telangana.

The IMD also noted that the monsoon progression over Maharashtra has slowed due to the lack of favourable large-scale weather conditions. It reported that the southwest monsoon had advanced into parts of South Konkan and adjoining areas of South Central Maharashtra on June 8, but has remained stalled over the rest of the state in recent days. According to forecasts, rainfall activity over the Konkan region may increase around June 24–25, while the overall weather situation continues to be closely monitored.

Severe heat conditions in several states, tourist activity in Himachal Pradesh has surged due to the summer holiday season. In Shimla alone, more than 1.5 million vehicles have entered the city within just 45 days. To manage the massive crowd, police have implemented a five-point strategy, deploying additional traffic personnel and 210 extra staff members. Thirty-two motorcycles have also been deployed for rapid response, and the entire city has been divided into five sectors, each supervised by gazetted officers.

The Himachal Pradesh Meteorological Department has forecast the possibility of rainfall across the state until June 23, providing some relief to the region.