June drizzle, July sizzle!
Strange are the ways of nature and stranger it is in Meghalaya. The advent of Monsoon in the first week of June wreaked havoc across the state. The precipitation was immense. It didn’t just rain cats and dogs…it was much more. Mawsynram and Sohra received record-breaking rainfall.
The MET department recorded a figure of 1003.6 mm of rainfall between June 16 and 17, the highest single-day figure ever for Mawsynram, the wettest place on Earth.
Sohra which is situated at an aerial distance of 10 km from Mawsynram recorded the third highest single-day precipitation of 811.2 mm in the 122-year-old history of the Indian Meteorological Department.
In stark contrast, July has been relatively dry.
The receding rainfall has given way to extreme heat with the mercury soaring towards the 30 degree Celsius mark.
The maximum temperature recorded last week was due to a heat wave quite alien to the month of July. On July 11 and 12 the maximum temperature was 26.1, on July 13 it was 27.8, on July 14 it was 28.3, while on July 15 it rose to 28.5 degree Celsius.
However, citizens are likely to get a much-needed respite from the heat in the coming days with the Met office predicting an increase in rainfall activity over the entire Northeastern region in the next few days.
The SJ team members are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for the weatherman’s prediction to come true.
Addicts changing job profile
Of late, citizens have complained of theft cases going up in their respective localities. The increasing number of thefts was attributed to the load-shedding across the city in the early hours of the day. The power cuts have stopped but thefts have not.
Some citizens who interacted with the SJ team said they learnt, through their own investigation, that the thefts are committed by none other than drug addicts.
Unassuming and looking harmless, they move around certain localities and slyly pocket whatever they can lay their hands on. Some of the more adventurous ones also enter people’s homes if the opportunity presents itself, the citizens said.
One of the items fancied by these addicts-cum-thieves is mobile phones, the citizens explained, adding that houses which are along the roadside are mostly targetted by the thieves.
It is absolutely clear why drug addicts turn to thieving. Subsistence is one of the primary reasons behind the growing cases of thefts, the citizens say.
Asked if they had any solution to the growing problem, they said anyone caught with drugs or anyone found to be involved in substance abuse must be shipped away to a rehabilitation centre in a different city if not a different state.
The SJ team hopes the concerned authorities show some concern and come up with a solution to the growing cases of theft. Or, they may heed the suggestion of the citizens and kill two birds with a single stone.