Chill is back in Agra as heavy showers lash Taj city

Heavy showers lashed Taj city on Thursday morning bringing the chill back, just when the locals thought weather would open up after Makar Sankranti.

"A few brief spell of showers we had in the night but as the day progressed murky clouds thundered and hit life Thursday morning," Vijay Nagar colony Sudhir Gupta said.

The showers brought some relief to farmers cultivating wheat but potato growers were concerned as high moisture could affect quality of the produce. Agra region produces around 30 percent of the total output of potatoes in the country.

Meanwhile, despite the wet weather, half the Agra city has been without drinking water for past three days. "We have been waiting for water to trickle from the municipal tap but only air is coming out and no water," said a desperate housewife of Jeoni Mandi area, Rukmini.

The local BJP MLAs officially opened the Ganga Jal pipeline that would supply more than 200 MLD additional water from a canal of Ganges in Bulandshahr district.

The Agra Water Works management said, "Ganga Jal will now be available to the old city. The Sikandra water works has been supplying Ganga Jal to many new colonies and part of the old city, for the past one month."

Yamuna running dry and polluted for almost eight months in a year, the 130-km long Ganga Jal pipeline project is expected to solve Taj city's water woes this summer, officials said.

( With inputs from IANS )