IMD issues heatwave alert for several states

New Delhi, Jun 12 : Even as several parts of the country are grappling with severe heatwave conditions, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), in its latest forecast issued Sunday evening, has predicted that the heatwave is likely to persist in isolated pockets over Bihar, Jharkhand and Coastal Andhra Pradesh during the next 5 days. Further, heatwave conditions are also expected to prevail over south Haryana-Delhi, south Uttar Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha during June 11-13 and over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana on June 11-12, as per the update issued at 4.30 pm on Sunday. In the wake of maximum temperature hovering between 38-44° C across Jharkhand and heatwave conditions persisting in the state, the government has announced a shut down of all schools for three days from today (Monday). “Keeping in view the extreme heat and heat wave conditions in the state, all categories of government, non-government aided/ non-aided (including minority) and all private schools operating in the state will remain closed from June 12 to June 14,” an order issued by the secretary of school education and literacy department K Ravi Kumar said. In view of the heatwave conditions prevailing in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, IMD Scientist Naresh Kumar has informed that an orange alert has been issued in these regions, sources reported. As per Kumar, Andhra Pradesh can expect a severe heatwave in the coming days and temperature can rise 6.5 degrees above normal. “If we talk about the North-West and Rajasthan which is a major zone for heatwave, we are not expecting any intensity this time in this region. We are also expecting a heatwave for the next 2 to 3 days in southern Uttar Pradesh and NCR Delhi as well as the South Haryana region at some isolated places. As a precautionary step we have issued heat wave warning in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR and Haryana for the next three days,” he added.