Talcher: The Talcher industrial belt has turned into a boiling cauldron with day temperature hovering over 42 degree Celsius and excess heat wave conditions prevailing in the current summer.
According to the met office, the day temperature in Talcher in these days remained above 42 degree Celsius.
Saturday, the temperature crossed 43 degrees; recorded the highest day temperature in the state and Sunday it remained at 42.4 degree Celsius.
The rise in mercury coupled with heat wave condition has forced the people to stay indoors after 11 am.
The misery of the people compounded as along with the excess heat wave, low voltage and frequent power cuts have made the lives of the citizens desperate.
At colliery areas, water scarcity has also hit residents since most of the wells and ponds in village areas have already dried up.
Talcher always records excess heat in the summer days and remains the hottest in most of the times in the state.
Experts attribute such abnormal heat here to the mindless industrialisation leading to depletion of the forest.
Nearly one lakh tonne of coal is burnt by power plants of NTPC and Nalco every day. This apart huge coal mining and exposure of the coal to sun generates a huge amount of heat.
In early 2006, the temperature in Talcher crossed 50 degree Celsius making the situation alarming. It is considered as one of the hottest places in the country raising concern among the climatic experts.
The state government constituted and sent a committee to study the situation and find out the remedial measure. But nothing has been done leaving the region to burn during the summer, an environmentalist said.
All the plantation drive by the state government and public sector units are eyewash, he added.
United News India