2024-06-02 02:53:09
BHUBANESWAR/PUNE/RAIPUR: Life-sapping temperatures caused 67 more suspected heatstroke deaths in Odisha in the past 48 hours, with Balangir alone accounting for 20 lives. The death toll in the state on Saturday was 96 in 72 hours. As of now, the Odisha govt has confirmed 15 heatstroke deaths while 81 autopsy reports are pending at the district level.
Five people succumbed in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, while the death of a herder grazing his cattle in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district on May 28 was confirmed by a death audit committee on Saturday as a heatstroke fatality, the state’s first.With four more deaths in Delhi, the countrywide toll for Saturday rose to 77, and to 165 for the summer so far.
Saturday’s deaths in Odisha included that of a booth-level officer in Binjharpur block of Jajpur district who died on election duty, and an elderly voter in Nilagiri block of Balasore district. Fifteen deaths were reported from Sambalpur, the worst hit after Balangir with 20 deaths in the past 48 hours. The remaining 30 deaths were scattered across western Odisha.
An India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast said though heatwave conditions in Odisha are likely to prevail, a “gradual fall in the maximum temperature by 2° to 3°C during the next three days is likely, and no large change thereafter, at many places across the state,” said IMD Bhubaneswar centre director Manorama Mohanty. On Saturday, Titilagarh recorded the highest day temperature (46°C), followed by Balangir (45.5°C), Bhawanipatna (44.6°C) and Nuapada (44°C). Rain and thundershowers at isolated places in several districts on Saturday evening provided relief from the killing heat.
With reports of deaths pouring in from different districts in Odisha, chief secretary P K Jena and special relief commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu held a review meeting with district collectors on Saturday. The collectors were instructed to ensure implementation of SRC heatwave advisories and precautionary measures.
According to Maharashtra’s health department, 281 heatstroke cases have been reported in the state so far this year, including one death. Of them, the most cases, 29, are from Nashik, followed by 28 from Jalna and 23 from Buldhana. Pune has reported eight heatstroke cases so far and Mumbai recorded three.
In Chhattisgarh, 40 passengers on a bus had a narrow escape on Saturday when a fire, apparently caused by an overheated radiator, engulfed the vehicle near Abhanpur. The bus burnt down to its shell shortly after the passengers evacuated. The entire state is in the grip of a blistering heatwave. Four of Saturday’s five deaths occurred in Janjgir-Champa district, where a farmer, two truck drivers, and a transport vehicle helper succumbed to sunstroke. They fainted and were taken to the district hospital where they were declared dead. The fifth heat-related death was reported from Kanker when a truck driver from UP collapsed and died due to heatstroke.