'Rain lashes state but monsoon yet to arrive'

The mercury took a downward swing as overnight rain lashed various parts of the state, giving respite from the hot and humid weather. However, western Rajasthan is still reeling under intense heat conditions with no sight of rain. Although various parts in southern and eastern Rajasthan witnessed scattered and moderate rainfall, the meteorological department said monsoon is yet to arrive in the state. Despite the fact that districts, including Jaipur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Ajmer, Sawai Madhopur and Banswara witnessed light to moderate rainfall in the past 48 hours, the Met department maintained that it was pre-monsoon rains. "It is pre-monsoon showers across the state as the monsoon has just hit Gujarat and is likely to move ahead in the next 24 hours," a met office told DNA on Sunday. Jaipurities woke up to a pleasant morning and light downpour as the temperature dipped in the morning hours. However, various colonies in the city faced acute power crisis on Sunday following the rains. People living in various residential colonies kept calling the call centres of Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (JVNL) and complained of poor response as teams attending to various calls took almost two to three hours to rectify the technical snags. Meanwhile, western Rajasthan is still reeling under hot conditions with Sriganganagar recording a maximum temperature of 46 degree Celsius. Sriganganagar was followed by Churu at 45 degree Celsius, Bikan...