Heavy rains unlikely in J-K over next 3 days: Met dept

New Delhi, Sep 8: There is no possibility of heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir over the next three days, the MET department said on Monday as rescuers stepped up efforts to save people marooned by the devastating floods in the state.

The MET department, however, said heavy rains are expected in central India with monsoon activity shifting from north India. "There is no possibility of heavy rains in Jammu Kashmir over the next three days. There is a low pressure near Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, but it is unlikely to moves towards Haryana, Jammu Kashmir or north-west India," Indian Meteorological Department Director B P Yadav said.

"There is no warning of heavy rains for the next three days in Jammu and Kashmir. No such warning has been issued," Secretary, Minister of Earth Science, Shailesh Nayak, said.

This will also help intensify the rescue operations in the state, which has seen loss of over 150 lives due to floods, he said. Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said entire north India will hardly receive any monsoon showers in next few days and southwest monsoon will remain subdued over Peninsular India, while the northeast could receive scattered rains.

"The low pressure area will bring widespread, light to good amount of rain, with heavy in pockets, over west Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, southeast Rajasthan, north Maharashtra and Konkan and Goa in next 48 hours.

"The system will gradually shift north/northeastwards, showing signs of weakening. Thereafter, the rain belt will also shift to cover parts of Uttar Pradesh," the private agency said. Meanwhile, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh today refused to analyse why such a catastrophe happened in Jammu and Kashmir.

"I don't want to get into this controversy. We are all through an unfortunate time as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned," Singh told reporters.

"We were aware that monsoon would intensity in its last phase but the irony is that the effect of monsoon was so much in the Valley. There was forecast but what happened or why it happened this is not the time to analyse it," he said.

The Minister was reacting to queries on preparations by both the Centre and the state government to deal with the intense weather situation. Heavy floods have wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving nearly 150 people dead.

PTI