Calcutta, April 5: The water crisis across the state continued today with rain playing truant and Jharkhand keeping its tap closed.

“There was some rain last night but only in pockets of Nadia and Birbhum. It hasn’t helped much,” agriculture director D. Konar said.

Bengal has asked for 1.30 lakh cusecs of water from Jharkhand’s DVC canal for the irrigation of boro crop, but the government of that state has not flashed the green signal yet. Chief secretary A.K. Deb said he was in touch with the Jharkhand government. “We have placed our proposal. They’re yet to respond.”

DVC chairman Asim Burman said water could not be released without the government’s clearance. “We haven’t heard from the Jharkhand government even today. It is for the two governments to negotiate the matter,” he said.

The dry spell has prompted the Bengal agriculture department to bring down its boro cultivation target from 1.5 lakh hectares to 76,000 hectares. About 1.25 lakh hectares of sesame seeds, 35,000 hectares of pulses, 2.5 lakh hectares of summer vegetables and 2,500 hectares of cotton are now on the fields.

Water from the upper reaches of the Damodar was to have come via the Tenughat and Panchet dams in Jharkhand and irrigate the DVC command area in Bengal ? Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan and Bankura.