Patna: A district administration in Bihar has enforced prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Penal Code (CrPC) banning gathering of five or more persons at a place in view of the severe heatwave wreaking havoc in the state for the past two days. Intense heatwave killed 120 people on Sunday, taking the toll to 183 in the past two days, media reports said.
Authorities said the Gaya district administration on Monday imposed prohibitory orders in the whole of the district after severe heatwave continued to strike the masses hard. The order was issued by the Gaya district magistrate Abhishek Singh.
Under part of the order, the gathering of villagers, all governmental and non-governmental construction works, all kinds of labour works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), any cultural programme or gathering in open spaces between 11am and 4pm have been banned.
Gaya is one of the few districts of Bihar which recorded large number of deaths from heat strokes. Most of the deaths have been reported from the three districts of southern Bihar’s Magadh Division which include Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada although the entire Bihar is currently reeling under severe heatwaves not witnessed in recent years.
Local media quoting official sources said as many as 120 deaths were reported from the southern Bihar districts on Sunday while around 300 sun stroke patients were admitted to various hospitals in these districts. Barely a day back — on Saturday — 61 deaths were reported from the same districts from heatwaves.
Scientists at the Patna Meteorological Department said lack of pre-monsoon rains and extreme dry conditions have intensified heatwave conditions leading to large number of deaths. “The state has not witnessed pre-monsoon shower this year which has led mercury to soar alarmingly and resulting in severe heatwave conditions,” a senior scientist at Patna meteorological department Anand Shankar said.
According to him, cyclonic winds from the Arabian Sea have remained confined to the sea region itself and failed to hit the sea coasts which have further soared mercury. “Such disturbances have delayed monsoon in Bihar and other parts of the state leading to severe heatwave conditions,” Shankar added.
A prominent geographer and vice-chancellor of Patna University Professor Rasbihari Prasad Singh blamed El Nino for the rising temperature. “El Nino is heating the sea surface, as a result low pressure areas are getting created in the sea region itself curtaining monsoon which has resulted in extreme weather conditions,” Singh said.
Previously, monsoon would normally hit Bihar by June 10 but this year, it still remains missing. Even pre-monsoon showers have gone totally missing. The severity of the situation is underlined from the fact that eight of Bihar’s total 38 districts have experienced no rain while nine districts face 80 to 95 per cent rain deficiency. It’s only four districts which have got good rains so far.
Long dry spells have also killed large number of birds, and fishes in the ponds as water gets heated.
