 Early Times Report
Jammu, May 31: As the maximum temperature rose to a sweltering 44.1 degrees Celsius on Friday, Jammu city witnessed the hottest day of the season so far.
Sonam Lotus, the Director of the Met office, told "As the maximum temperature rose to 44.1 degrees Celsius today, Jammu city recorded the hottest day of the season so far.
"Hot and dry weather conditions are likely to continue in Jammu region during the next three days as no major change in weather is expected during this period".
Lotus said it is normal for the maximum temperatures to rise above 40 degrees during the month of May in Jammu region.
"During the last 37 years the maximum temperature in Jammu in the month of May has crossed 47 degrees Celsius only in 1984 and 1988," Lotus said.
Soaring temperature along with strong heat wave has gripped entire Jammu province including Samba, Kathua , RS Pura, Udhampur, Kathua and other areas.
The temperature is above 40-43 degree Celsius due to which plants have started turning pale, grass getting dried up and tar on the roads is about to melt. Some of the areas of Udhampur have also been witnessing forest fires, causing huge loss to green cover.
Due to global warming the summers have becoming dangerous while the forest fires add more worries, environmentalists said, adding that due to extreme heat the water sources in the jungles and villages also got dried up, causing problems for stray as well as wild animals.
"We are not even able to do our daily chores properly due to intense heat wave", Vikram Singh a local said.
Long power outages and searing heat conditions have left citizens of Jammu exasperated.
The Santra Morh-Hazuribagh-Anandnagar-Bohri belt is the worst affected region in Jammu division, where locals say they are getting electricity for less than eight hours daily.
"The power demand of Jammu province has increased beyond its allotment. As a result, the department has resorted to short duration, unscheduled curtailments during peak load hours," Chief Engineer, PDD, Jammu, Sudhir Gupta said.
Hundreds of locals in Bohri protested against the power cuts on Friday. They burnt effigies of the Jammu and Kashmir government and alleged wrongdoing on part of the Power Distribution Department (PDD).
The protestors blocked the Bohri Road and raised anti-government and anti-PDD slogans, demanding privatisation of the sector.
Later, they also burnt an effigy of the PDD Chief Engineer.
The maximum temperature was recorded above 40 degree Celsius for the fifth straight day on Friday in Jammu.
Chief Engineer Gupta said the general public has been alerted that in case power overload condition persists, power curtailment in unmetered areas shall continue for seven hours a day, while in metered areas there it will be one hour rotational power cut.
"We receive power for hardly seven to eight hours when the temperature has gone upto nearly 44 degrees Celsius. Our families are battling with their lives in such hot conditions," said Kuldeep Kumar, a resident of Santara Morh.
Locals alleged PDD engineers and officials are in cahoots with power thieves, who are using more electricity than is allotted to their region.
"We urge the governor to intervene into the matter to relieve us from power cuts of 15 hours," Santam Choudhary, another local, said.
The maximum temperature in the city crossed the 40-degrees Celsius mark last week for the first time this season and it is on the rise since then, touching 43.6 degrees Celsius yesterday, the highest in the month of May over the past three years, the Met department said. |
