MITHI, Feb 23: A major portion of the Thar desert received moderate rains a few days back. There was rain in almost all parts of three talukas — Chhachhro, Mithi, and Nagarparkar — while some areas of the fourth taluka, Diplo, received only nominal rainfall. Some portions of Nagarparkar taluka had rains after almost four years.

The most important benefit that the Tharis will get is that the parched wells will be recharged and the shortage of fresh water will, to an extent, be alleviated. Natural depressions will retain water for some time, and many of the ponds, constructed by villagers, the government and non-governmental organizations, will also benefit.

Due to seepage, subsoil aquifers will be recharged and the water-table in the area will improve. The people will thus have additional fresh water for a few more months — hopefully till the arrival of Monsoon in June. The fodder crop will also benefit.

However, if the herds, that the drought-hit migrating Tharis had taken to the barrage area with them a few months back, start to return, the fodder supply might not last till the Monsoon.

There is a centuries old tradition called controlled grazing that is still strictly followed in Thar, according to which the herdsman take their livestock to the grazing grounds during and soon after the Monsoon till the crops sown during the rainy season are harvested.

The rest of the time, it is free grazing and animal herds are let loose in the morning to graze all day. The animals roam around and they enter every area and help themselves wherever they find anything to eat.

So after this non-seasonal rains, some of the Tharis might sow limited number of crops like vegetables. But there would be no mass scale farming.

A large number of animals — particularly camels, goats, etc — had become weak due to the drought and were attacked by the blood-sucking arachnid parasite and were affected by mange.

The drought-hit Tharis lack funds for medicines for their animals. Many of the diseased animals might now survive because a major cause of disease is low nutrition.

Though Thar has a limited road network, many of the roads had probably been laid without taking into consideration the route rainwater takes (like natural drains, nullahs, etc) while moving from the high lands to the depressions.

So at many places the patches of recently-laid roads have caved in, making driving difficult and at places risky. Even ceiling of the recently-constructed District Coordination Officer’s office in Mithi has started leaking with the rains.

Dawn tried to get the rain position in Thar from the meteorological department, and its chief meteorologist Arif Mehmood said that there was just one observatory near Chhore in Umerkot district. There was no observatory in Thar district so there was no information regarding rain in the region.