E-Paper
Heat wave claims 17 lives in Jharkhand in three days
The rising temperature coupled with the heat wave has claimed 17 lives in Jharkhand in the last three days. The state has broken all previous weather records and is reeling under intense heat in the second half of June.
The rising temperature coupled with the heat wave has claimed 17 lives in Jharkhand in the last three days. The state has broken all previous weather records and is reeling under intense heat in the second half of June.
The temperature is rising day by day, but the monsoon, which normally hit the state by the second week of June, has yet to arrive.
The heat wave has claimed five lives in Gumla followed by four in Jamshedpur. Deaths due to the heat have also been reported in Bokaro, Palamau, and West Singbhum and in other districts of the state.
On Tuesday, the maximum temperature recorded was 46.2 degrees Celsius in Deoghar district. In Ranchi, which was once the summer capital of undivided Bihar, the maximum temperature on Tuesday was 41.3 degrees Celsius.
According to the meteorological department, the maximum temperature in the second and third week of June in 2008 recorded in Palamau was 32 degrees Celsius -- fairly cool against what it is this year.
The delayed monsoon has affected the farmers the worse. They have failed to sow seeds in the absence of rainwater. Experts believe, Jharkhand is likely to get rain by the first week of July.
In several places such as in Ranchi and Jamshedpur, Hindus are performing 'Yagna' and Muslims are offering prayers in mosques for the early arrival of the monsoon.
