With Uttarakhand, too, registering over 90 per cent of rainfall and snowfall deficit, the authorities are now pinning hopes on a good precipitation in the month of February to make up for the shortfall.

Dr Anand Sharma, director of the metrological department, told The Indian Express that in the months of December and January, the state received only one-tenth of the average rainfall in the season. “While some rainfall has been recorded in the Garhwal region, the situation in Kumaon is grim with virtually no heavy rainfall received in the region,” he said.

While the agricultural regions in the plains have the consolation of having a good irrigation network, it is the small and medium marginal farmers in the hills who will be affected, he said.

The crops that would be worst-hit in the hilly tracts are wheat and barley along with pulses and potatoes. The crops of the apple family will suffer too.

Dr Sharma is optimistic of getting rainfall over the next two months, but at the same time he cautions about the need to conserve water. “A long dry spell is likely to cause a shortage of drinking water in the months that succeed the winters. It will also cause a shortage of water for power generation that is the most important asset of Uttarakhand,” he said.

Meanwhile, State Agriculture Minister Trivendra Rawat told The Indian Express, “I have given directions to administrators in various places to see that water is not wasted. If there are any losses on account of pipe leakages or other pending repairs, that must be rectified on priority. We are also trying to ensure that the farmers somehow get water to irrigate their crops.”