Odisha govt braces up to face heat wave

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 25:

Taking note of the intense heat wave sweeping across Odisha and the capital city becoming the second hottest city in the country on Thursday, the state government has finally woken up to tackle the blistering heat that has thrown normal life out of gear.

According to official sources, chief secretary JK Mohapatra has convened a high level review meeting tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

The meeting, to be attended by secretaries of all departments, would discuss the water and power scarcity problems as well as the impact of the El Nino effect on the state, official sources said.

Apart from this, the meeting would also discuss preventive measures to tackle the gruelling heat, the sources added.

There are already reports of war over water at a number of water- stressed areas in the state.  The situation is only going to get worse as the summer reaches the peak in May. People in the interior as well as western Odisha parts are already facing acute shortage of drinking water.

Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra, who had earlier issued a directive to all the district collectors on March 19 to take preemptive steps to tackle the heat wave in the state, has on Thursday sought the action taken report (ATR) from them on the steps taken by them in this regard.

In another letter, the Development commissioner I.Srinivas has also asked the collectors to take immediate steps to counter the heat wave in their respective districts.

Expressing unhappiness over the non-functioning of control rooms and water kiosks in the urban pockets in some of the districts, he has directed the collectors to monitor drinking water supply at regular intervals.