Heatwave likely in West Rajasthan from May 7, several steps initiated to tackle rising temperature

People are resorting to drinking sugarcane juice and using umbrellas to tackle the extreme heat.

Jaipur Meteorological Centre Director Radheshyam Sharma said, "The temperature in most areas of Rajasthan is normal. It is under 40 degrees and under. The minimum and maximum temperatures will rise by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius in the coming three days. In western Rajasthan, the maximum temperature on May 6, and 7 will be 43 to 45 degrees Celsius in the border areas of Bikaner and Jodhpur. There is a possibility of a heatwave in West Rajasthan from May 7 to 10."

He further said that the Jaipur Meteorological Centre has issued a warning of a heatwave in border areas of West Rajasthan.

"In North Rajasthan, the temperature will rise and it will lie between 42 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius," he added.

In Siliguri, North Bengal Wild Animals Park has taken several measures, like building water ponds and installing fans at night shelters for the animals to protect them from rising heat waves in the region, especially the tiger, leopard and Asiatic black bear.

E Vijaya Kumar, Director of North Bengal Wild Animals Park, popularly known as Bengal Safari Park, said, "This year the temperature is crossing 39-40 degrees Celsius. To protect our animals, we have initiated many actions like creating water sprinklers to create a humid atmosphere, providing them drinking water, twice a day, minimum, installing air coolers, and fans and offering them ice cubes to play with and changing the food pattern. We have 30-40 species in this park."

He further remarked that at present, no animals were showing signs of temperature rise.

"We are continuously monitoring it and if any temperature stress is seen we have enough manpower here and a full-fledged veterinary hospital and we are capable of handling it. Till now there is no signs of temperature stress in any animal," he added.

In Tamil Nadu, Elephants at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chengalpattu enjoyed a refreshing water shower to beat the heat.

Earlier, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that most parts of the country are likely to record above-normal maximum temperatures in the month of May.

The IMD however stated that some parts of northwest and central India and adjoining areas of northeast peninsular India are likely to record normal to below-normal maximum temperatures.

Normally, heat wave prevails over the northern plains, central India and adjoining areas of peninsular India for about three days in May, the IMD said.

The weather department said that the number of heatwave days is likely to be above normal by about five to eight days over south Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Marathwada and Gujarat region and two to four days over remaining parts of Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Chhattisgarh, interior Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, north interior Karnataka and Telangana and isolated pockets of north Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh. (ANI)