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MLAs may need more than political fire to turn the heat on in ‘icy’ Gairsain House
Ahead of assembly session beginning December 7 at Gairsain, Dehradun Meteorological Centre says mercury likely to roll down to 2 degree Celsius there
For the 70 MLAs and over five dozen bureaucrats in Uttarakhand, ‘to chill’ is going to have a different meaning altogether as they head to attend the assembly session at Gairsain, where near freezing temperatures are expected. The winter session of the House begins on December 7.
Netas and babus will be braving mercury that is likely to roll all the way down to 2 degree Celsius during their week-long stay for the assembly session, which will be held at Bhararisain —located at a height of around 7000 feet in Chamoli district.
With both the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress gearing up to corner each other, political heat inside the House will soar amid biting cold outside.
The Dehradun Meteorological Centre has predicted “very light to light rain and snow at isolated places especially in five hill districts including Chamoli” on December 7.
Bikram Singh, director of the Dehradun MeT Centre, said that cold weather will prevail at the hill town, and that the mercury was likely to fall below normal due to possibility of rain and snowfall in the higher reaches.
“The minimum temperatures will hover around 2-5 degrees Celsius during the Gairsain session while the maximum temperature would be around 15-18 degrees Celsius from December 7 to 10. Weather is likely to get further inclement on December 12-13 with another wet spell expected around then,” Singh told HT.
Snowfall is also likely to occur at places with height around 3500 metres and above, which will further impact weather during the session.
According to sources, apart from the 70 MLAs, around 60 bureaucrats and 70 members of the state assembly staff will also be staying at the hill town for the session.
“Requisite arrangements are being made to ensure that lawmakers and officials have a comfortable stay during the session,” Uttarakhand state assembly secretary Jagdish Chandra told HT.
“Being located at a high-altitude, temperatures usually remain low there. We are arranging heaters to be placed both inside the assembly house as well as at the MLAs’ and officers’ hostel (where they will stay at night),” Chandra said.
“This (the cold) is going to be inevitable, but it will be nothing in front of the problems our hill folks face on a daily basis living in the mountains,” a first-time BJP MLA told HT.
