Eight hospitalised in Odisha due to intense heat
Bhubaneswar, Apr 6: Eight people have been hospitalised after falling ill due to intense heat in Odisha, a senior official said on Saturday.
Public Health Department Director Niranjan Mishra said that from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, five people were admitted to hospitals in Angul district due to over-exposure to sun and heat, while one such case each was reported in Khurda, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh districts.
However, no report of any death due to sunstroke has been reported so far, he said.
He said hospital authorities across the state have been instructed to keep facilities ready to treat sunstroke patients.
"Special beds and adequate medicines have also been kept ready at primary health centres (PHC), community health centres (CHC) and district headquarters hospitals (DHH) for the treatment of sunstroke patients," he said.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in the state rose to above 43 degrees Celsius, and as many as 21 places recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The industrial town of Angul in central Odisha was the hottest at 43.5 degrees Celsius, closely followed by Malkangiri (43.2) and Titlagarh and Boudh (both 43).
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack registered the maximum temperature of 39.6 and 40.1 degrees Celsius respectively.
The IMD forecast that there will be no major change in the maximum temperature over the next 24 hours, and in the subsequent two days, it may dip by two-four degrees Celsius, with no major change thereafter.
It also issued a yellow warning (be updated), forecasting heat wave conditions at one or two places in Angul, Nayagarh, Bolangir, Malkangiri, Bhadrak, Gajapati and Boudh districts till Sunday.
Warm night conditions are likely to prevail at a few places in Bolangir, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Malkangiri, the weather office said.
However, the IMD's Bhubaneswar centre also predicted thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha over the next two days.
"Odisha is likely to receive rain or thunderstorms and lightning associated with gusty wind during the next two days," the IMD said in a bulletin.
According to the weather office, hailstorms would occur at one or two places in Angul, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Cuttack districts on April 7.
Similarly, some places in Kandhamal, Ganjam, and Kalahandi districts may receive heavy rainfall on April 8.
In the wake of prevailing heat wave conditions in the state, the Special Relief Commissioner's office on Saturday asked the sports department to restrict outdoor sports activities from 11 am to 3 pm as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, the labour department had put restrictions on workers engaging in labour-intensive work between 11 am and 3 pm. The Khurda district administration also reduced school timings to 6.30 am to 10.30 am.b
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Cong to distribute over 40 lakh pamphlets focused on 'Mahalakshmi' scheme
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress is set to step up its outreach to women ahead of the sixth and seventh phases of the Lok Sabha polls with plans in place to distribute more than 40 lakh pamphlets focused on its proposed "Mahalakshmi" scheme under which Rs 1 lakh will be given every year to a woman from a poor family, sources said.
In a video message, Sonia Gandhi had said last week that women of the country are facing tough times in the wake of a "severe crisis" and the party's proposed 'Mahalakshmi scheme' for them will help change their lives.
"The Congress' 'Mahalakshmi' scheme guarantees that we will give Rs 1 lakh every year to a woman from a poor family," she had said in her video message.
Sources said the Congress is all set to distribute more than 40 lakh pamphlets with key focus on "Mahalakshmi" scheme in poll-bound constituencies across the country ahead of the sixth and seventh phases.
Addressing a rally here on Saturday, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke about the Mahalakshmi scheme the party intended to bring if the INDIA bloc came to power.
"We will make crores of lakhpatis. Under the scheme, a list of all families living below the poverty line will be drawn and a woman will be chosen from each family and the INDIA bloc will give them one lakh rupees in a year by depositing Rs 8,500 per month," he had said.
At a public meeting earlier, Gandhi had said that on July 1, when the poor women will check their accounts, they will find that Rs 8,500 have 'magically' been deposited.
And this will happen on the first of every month, he had said.
Sources said it was during Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, that several women met Gandhi and shared their grievances with him, and after that the Congress came up with the Mahalakshmi scheme.
Mahalakshmi scheme is among the main five guarantees that the Congress has promised.
"The Congress resolves to launch a Mahalakshmi scheme to provide Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family as an unconditional cash transfer. The poor will be identified among the families in the bottom of the income pyramid," the Congress manifesto has said.
The sixth phase of the Lok Sabha pills will be held on May 25 while the seventh and final phase will be held on June 1.
The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
