Heat wave continues to grip WB, death toll rises to 48

Heat wave conditions continued to prevail in the southern districts of West Bengal with 48 persons succumbing to the heat till Wednesday, official reports from the districts said.

Fifteen deaths were reported from West Midnapur district over the last three days while one more death occurred in Bankura on Tuesday night taking the toll to five in the district since Monday, official sources said.

Altogether 32 deaths were reported till Tuesday from the districts of Burdwan, Hooghly and Purulia.

While West Midnapur recorded a temperature of 45.9 degrees Celsius, Bankura touched a searing 46.5 degree Celsius, sources said.

Meanwhile, West Midnapur Additional District Magistrate Subhanjan Das has appealed to the people to conduct postmortem in cases of death or suspected death due to heatstroke. The administration was formulating a policy to provide compensation to the family members of those who died from a heatstroke, he said.

Also, acute drinking water scarcity was reported from areas like Jhargram, Belpahari, Keshiary and Kharagpur, he added.

Shops and markets closed down early because of the heat and streets wore a deserted look as the day wore on. Schools and colleges were closed for summer vacations and district court remained closed.

In Bankura, superintendent of Bankura Medical College and Hospital, Panchanan Kundu, said 20 persons were being treated there for heatstroke.

Also, Jagannath Dinda, chief medical officer, Health, said sufficient supplies of water, saline and ORS were being rushed to the primary health centres in the district and leaves of health workers had been canceled.

No deaths have been reported from adjacent East Midnapur district, SP Sukesh Jain said. However, unofficial sources claimed eight persons had died due to the heat.