Odisha Gears Up To Face Ensuing Summer

Bhubaneswar: With the rising temperatures in various districts indicating a hard summer this year, the state government has started precautionary measures to thwart any untoward situation. While the State Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena has written a letter to all the District Collectors to take precautionary measures to tackle the heat wave conditions in the coming months, other departments have already initiated taking measures. Taking into the heat wave condition, the Labour department will decide the working hours of the workers. The Mass education Department is also taking initiatives on the timing of the school for the students. The class timing will be moderated according to the need. All students have been told to bring their water bottles, and adequate measures are also being taken to make availability of drinking water in the school premises.

Speaking to media, Deputy SRC Prabhat Mahapatra has said that, officials have been asked to identify villages and hamlets on a priority basis that have water scarcity so that they can be provided sufficient water.

Odisha’s continuous efforts have helped in minimizing the number of deaths due to heat wave and high temperatures. While more than 2000 people died due to heat wave in 1998, the numbers decreased to 54 in 2016, 45 in 2017, 60 in 2018, 50 in 2019 and 12 in 2020.