Cold wave grips Gol Gumbaz City

Bijapur blues

The people of the district, so far used to only two seasons - summer and intense summer - are now experiencing the vagaries of chill. Warm clothes relegated to bottom shelves in the almirah have come out. Wollen garments are more in demand in the city where people didn’t even bother about blankets, bonfires have become a common feature on mist-ridden streets.

Normal life affected

The plummeting temperature has thrown normal life out of gear. Morning walkers are hardly seen on the roads. The attendance in the schools has dropped considerably.

Children come to school almost an hour late and that too very unwillingly.

They would prefer to spend their sports and physical exercise classes inside the classroom itself. No classes are being held in the first period, an officer of the Education Department told Deccan Herald.

Roadside tea vendors who used to make a brisk business in early morning hours are now at their wits end as no one ventures out of their cosy dwellings to brave the morning chill. The vegetable vendors who used to hit the roads at 7 am now appear only two hours late.  There has been a significant drop in visiting tourists and hence there are no takers for the autorikshaws and tongas. The cold has cast its effect on election campaign with supporters unwilling to join the candidates for campaigning in the shivering winter.

Farm activities too have suffered a setback as farmers cannot venture into fields. The plight of farmers who have to water the crops is much more worse.

The grape growers are finding it difficult to spray insecticides, particularly with the fear of onset of Powdery Mildew, a fungal disease.

Common phenomenon

“Drop in temperature is quite common in December. The minimum temperature fell to less than 10 degree celsius in 1975. For the first time in 15 years the below 10 deg temperature has continued for over a week,” said Dr Venkatesh, a weather expert at Agriculture Science Centre in the City.

Agriculture Scientist S N Kulkarni observed that the temperature drops drastically only during nights and mercury goes up after sunrise. The morning temperature goes up to 17 degree. “Unlike in the North, the cold wave conditions do not last the entire day in South,” he said. Kulkarni said the severe chill would not cast any deleterious effect on groundnut, wheat and other crops in the district.

Bijapur has seen the extreme of seasons in the last three years. It rained heavily last year, followed by untimely rains a few month ago.