Rain may dampen puja fervour

Kolkata: Rain may play spoilsport during Durga Puja this year with the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore predicting moderate rainfall.

"There are chances of moderate rainfall from Saptami to Dashami in Kolkata and parts of South Bengal and the sky will mostly remain overcast. Chances of monsoon trough cannot be ruled out with the existence of active Monsoon winds during this period," said Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, director general of Meteorology (Eastern Region).

The weather office has also predicted moderate rainfall in North Bengal too during the Puja days from Asthami till Dashami. The day of Saptami will experience sporadic rainfall.

A senior official in the department also stated that there will be heavy rainfall in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts of North Bengal in the next 24 hours.

In a word of advice to the pandal-hoppers, the weather office said the best day to visit the Puja pandals will be the day of Chaturthi which falls on Sunday. Weather conditions are expected to be bright from September 22 to 24 with chances of rainfall being minimum," the official added.

On both Panchami and Sasthi, there are chances of moderate rainfall in Kolkata and South Bengal. The official, however, said the final forecast for the Puja weather will be given on Panchami.

Kolkata and parts of South Bengal have received moderate rainfall from Tuesday morning to Wednesday afternoon due to a depression on the Bay of Bengal.

"The depression has moved to the north-west direction and is presently based at North Chhattisgarh. It will be moving further north-west and so, the weather is going to be fine in the next two to three days," a top official said.

The weather office will be giving forecast every three hours on their website starting from September 26 so that the pandal hoppers can plan accordingly.

However, the weather office gave a positive weather forecast for Thursday's match. "There is no low pressure now. There are some chances of rain tomorrow (Thursday) but the weather will clear up towards the afternoon and there will be sunshine," the official said.

Heavy rainfall lashed the city on Tuesday late night with parts of North and South Kolkata going under ankle-deep water. However, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation kept its pumping stations functional and water was drained out within a few hours.