(TibetanReview.net, Feb21’25) – The Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, home to the exile Tibetan headquarters at Dharamshala, Kangra district, has suffered an 80% rain deficit since Jan 2025, raising prosects of water scarcity in the months ahead, reported tribuneindia.com Feb 20.
Even as the meteorological department has forecast a wet spell in Himachal Pradesh over the next few days, districts such as Shimla, Solan and Kangra have been facing their driest spells in many years, the report said.
The report said the state had witnessed an 80% rain deficit since January with only 29.7 mm precipitation having been recorded against the normal of 149.4 mm. This has sparked fears of climate change affecting the rainfall and snowfall pattern in the state.
Water was stated to be drying up at their sources. In the case of Kangra, many rivulets and ‘khuds’ like Neugal, Mand, Baner and Binwa were sated to have dried up, with most of the irrigation channels too having no water.
The report said many parts of Himachal Pradesh, including areas like Theog in Shimla, Kasauli-Dharampur in Solan and Sulah and Jaisinghpur in Kangra, were already facing water scarcity as water sources had dried up.
Fearing that the state could face acute water shortage in summer months, Jal Shakti (water resources) Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has urged New Delhi to fund a project for snow and water conservation to recharge groundwater.
Dubbing the situation as alarming, Jal Shakti Department officials have said, “The number of hours one could pump water from rural water supply schemes like Gorti, which serves villages like Shiller, has reduced from eight to two and a half hours. This highlights the sharp decline in water availability.”