Poor rainfall this season has been blamed for virtually everything that’s going wrong in the state but how poor is the rainfall situation suddenly seems like a big question. Ironically, this is because there is not one, but two different organisations, doing the same work i.e. measuring rainfall; and both have wildly different results. Rainfall data is traditionally measured by the Indian Meteorological Department throughout the country and in the state as well.
Simultaneously, there is the Directorate of Economic and Statistics under the ministry of agriculture which also measures rainfall. The problem arises because both show different measurements in different regions. According to the DES, rainfall due to southwest monsoon this time in the Telangana region stands at 464.7 mm while during the same period, rainfall measured by the IMD is 525 mm. The difference is a huge 60.3 mm. While in this region, the IMD says the deficit in rainfall is 2 per cent, the DES says it is 12 per cent.
An official of the DES says their measurements are accurate since they have a higher number of rain gauge stations. Also, it is ironical again that the IMD, whose primary purpose is weather forecasting and recording, has fewer number of rain gauge stations than DES. In coastal Andhra, rainfall according to the DES is 421.8 mm while according to the IMD, it is 390.3 mm. The IMD measurement here is higher than the DES. G. Sudhakar Rao, director-in-charge, Hyderabad Met Office, says though IMD has only 220 rain gauge stations, their measurements are accurate.