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As Agra battles heat wave,sprinklers out on roads, DDMA lists dos and don’ts
With routine life thrown out of gear, people are trying their best to alter their time schedule so as to avoid the hot afternoon when city roads turn barren even on working days, with most opting to stay indoors. Most of the schools have closed routine classes for summer vacation while a few have organised optional summer camps for interested students in the early part of the day.
Agra With Agra and the adjoining region in the grip of an intense hot spell and mercury crossing the 45 degrees Celsius mark, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has launched a Heat Wave Awareness Campaign 2024 to apprise the people of measures to protect themselves from the summer scorcher.
In view of the soaring mercury, the Agra Nagar Nigam has mobilised sprinklers on road to at least provide momentary relief to denizens and save plants along roads. On Tuesday, such sprinklers sprinked water at the gate of Agra Fort .
“About a dozen sprinklers are spraying water on roads and on plants on dividers and along side roads, mainly from 4 pm to 9 pm. Spraying has been done on Fatehabad Road, Jamuna Kinara Road, MG Road, Circuit House Road and Khandari Road,”’ informed Surendra Prasad Yadav, additional municipal commissioner.
On Tuesday, the District Inspecter of Schools (DIOS) in Agra took a tough stand against schools still not closed for summer vacation scheduled from May 21 till June 30.
“All schools should strictly comply with orders and stop classes in this intense heat wave. Those failing to comply will face action,” said an order issued by the office of DIOS Agra on Tuesday .
To note, Mathura district recorded 47.1 degrees Celsius temperature on Monday and Agra 46.6 degrees Celsius . On Sunday, Agra recorded maximum temperature of 47.7 degrees Celsius after 46.5 recorded on Saturday.
With routine life thrown out of gear, people are trying their best to alter their time schedule so as to avoid the hot afternoon when city roads turn barren even on working days, with most opting to stay indoors. Most of the schools have closed routine classes for summer vacation while a few have organised optional summer camps for interested students in the early part of the day.
Since intense heat leads to several health problems like dehydration and even heatstroke, the health department in Agra has issued an advisory which urges people to stay indoors as long as the heat wave is on.
Chief medical officer Dr AK Srivastava claimed that Rapid Response Teams (RRT) had been constituted. “Community health centres (CHCs) and primary health centres (PHCs) have been asked to remain updated,” he said .
On instructions from additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) Shubhangi Shukla, the District Disaster Management Authority has lodged Heat Awareness Campaign 2024 by providing online link asking people to take pledge for following instructions during the ongoing heat wave.
