Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair here on Thursday an important review meeting on preparedness to deal with the heatwave affecting parts of the country and the upcoming monsoon season, government sources said.
They said Modi is expected to hold seven to eight meetings during the day following his return from the three-day visit to as many European countries, reports PTI.
The prime minister will immediately attend office after arriving here, they said.
Several parts of the country have logged all-time high temperatures under the impact of the torrid heatwave.
North and Northwest India have been in the grip of an unending heatwave ever since early March which has been accompanied by an almost total lack of rainfall.
The sweltering heat starting “in March established historic records,” said Air Vice Marshal G. P. Sharma, former assistant chief of Air Staff (Meteorology), adding: “Even April will go down in history as one of the hottest.”
April hottest in 122 years
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed last week that April has been the hottest in 122 years. In a swathe of India from J&K, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi it was a huge 4C above normal.
Delhi had a mean average (the difference between the maximum and the minimum temperatures) of 40C for 28 days. This is against a normal mean temperature of around 36.3C. Sharma points out that even a 1C variation is “huge” and adds that “three degrees is a killing increase.”
Across the border in Pakistan, Jacobabad in Sindh province earned the dubious distinction of being the hottest place on the planet on Monday with temperatures touching 49C. Mohenjo-daro and Larkana, both in Sindh, were close behind at 48C. Such temperatures normally do not occur in April.
Blistering temperatures
On April 30 temperatures were between 43C-46C across northwest and north India. Banda in Uttar Pradesh experienced extraordinarily high temperatures of 47.4C. Lucknow too had a top temperature of 45.1 which is an all-time high for April.
Blistering highs were recorded across Uttar Pradesh with Prayagraj at 46.8 and Jhansi at 46.2 and Agra at 45.2.
Rainfall was almost totally absent during both March and April. In March the rainfall deficit was a huge 89 per cent in Northwest India and April was equally dry with an 83 per cent deficit. The key foodbowl regions, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in fact had a rainfall deficit of 95 per cent.
