SCORCHING APRIL HEAT FLAGS CLIMATE ABYSS

RECORD-HIGH TEMPERATURES - Banda in East UP logged a record high of 47.4 C on April 29, while several regions including Allahabad, Gurugram in the NCR and Chandrapur in central India have all crossed the 46 C mark. In Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, temperatures are close to 50 C.

- GURBIR SINGH

GLOBAL warming seems to have jumped out of academic conference rooms and doomsday predictions of climate activists to bite much of north and central India and Pakistan. April saw scorching heat conditions, which according to the Indian Metrological Department (IMD), was the most intense in 122 years. The heat wave has enveloped over 1.5bn people across borders, and governments are worried at the toll it has taken on lives and crops.

Banda in East UP logged a record high of 47.4 degree C on April 29, while several regions including Allahabad, and Gurugram in the national capital region and Chandrapur in central India have all crossed 46-deg C mark. An assessment by the Centre for Science and Environment said the heat wave started around March 11 and has enveloped as many as 11 states. In Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, temperatures are close to 50 deg C, unknown in this period of the year. Work is at a standstill as people don’t leave their homes; and frequent power and water supply breakdowns have made things worse.