Schools closed in Odisha from April 12-16 owing to heatwave

Bhubaneswar, April 11 (IANS) With the mercury soaring to 40-degree Celsius at nine places across Odisha on Tuesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered closure of all schools up to Class X along with anganwadis from April 12 to 16.

For the past few days, the temperature has been rising in the state with the Met department issuing a heatwave warning throughout Odisha.

In this context, anganwadis and schools up to Class X, both government and private, will remain closed from Wednesday to April 16, the Chief Minister directed.

On arrival from Japan on Tuesday evening, Patnaik immediately took a review meeting with senior officials on the current heatwave condition as well as the prevailing Covid situation in the state.

Patnaik directed the administration, particularly the panchayat raj, housing & urban development and energy departments, to remain preprared to deal with any situation.

The Chief Minister asked the concerned authorities to ensure smooth supply of drinking water, both in urban and rural areas, with special focus on water scarcity pockets. He also directed the energy department to ensure continuous power supply to meet the demand during heatwave conditions.

Patnaik also advised the administration to keep in touch with various professional Met agencies to collect information about monsoon and prepare advanced planning accordingly.

The Chief Minister was briefed about the current Covid scenario in the country in general and Odisha in particular. The Chief Minister advised the concerned officials to monitor the situation closely, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

As per an evening bulletin from the Bhubaneswar centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Baripada recorded the highest maximum temperature of 41.6-degree Celsius on Tuesday, followed by Jharsuguda (41.2), Sambalpura (40.8), Bhubaneswar (40.7), Titlagarh and Boudh (40.5), Angul (40.1), Cuttack and Sundergarh (40).

Due to northwesterly/westerly dry air and high solar insolation, day temperature is likely to rise further by 3 to 4-degree Celsius in the districts of interior Odisha in the next four days.

Forecasting heatwave conditions from April 13 to 15, the Met department has issued yellow warning for several districts.

The weather department has advised people to take precautionary measures while going out between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.