Boy dies while fetching water from well in drought-hit Beed

 In the second drought fatality in a span of two days, an 11-year-old boy died while fetching water from a well in drought-hit Beed district of Marathwada on Thursday.

Sachin Gopinath Kedar of Veeda village in Kej teshil was fetching water from a well, half-a-kilometre from his home, when he slipped and fell to his death, a police official said.

On Tuesday, a 12-year-old girl died due to heat stroke in Beed district, while fetching water from an almost dry handpump.

Yogita Ashok Desai, a resident of Sabalkhed village in Beed, was dehydrated after she made five attempts to fill water from a hand pump when the day’s temperature was 44 degrees Celsius.

Due to water scarcity in Marathwada, each member of the family, especially children, are compelled to make multiple trips to water tanks and hand pumps in the sweltering heat.
Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner Umakant Dangat said only 3% water is left in the dams of the parched Marathwada region.

Eight of the region’s 11 major dams are at dead storage level implying water from these dams cannot flow out but has to be lifted.

This is a drastic decline in water storage as at this time last year, the level in Marathwada’s dams was much higher at 11%, Dangat said.

As many as 2,745 water tankers are being used in the region compared to 939 this time last year. The Aurangabad Collector has already announced a 20% water cut to local breweries and a 10% overall cut to local industry.

No respite in Bihar

Bihar continues to sizzle under the blistering heat as most of the districts recorded temperatures ranging between 42-44 degrees Celsius in the last few days, DHNS reports from Patna.

The soaring mercury levels registered so far are the highest in the month of April since 1980.

The state capital recorded 43 degrees Celsius, whereas Gaya was the hottest district with 44 degrees Celsius. The Met Department has predicted that there will be no let up in the heat wave condition for the next two-three days.

In fact, in lieu of unrelenting heat wave condition, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a heat wave alert. “The abnormally high temperature in April could be attributed to the prevailing El Nino. Besides, the absence of pre-monsoon showers and absence of norwesterlies have further compounded the problem,” said an IMD official.

Meanwhile, main roads in Patna as well as major towns wore a deserted look on Thursday afternoon. However, parents were a bit relieved after the district administration revised the school timing making it mandatory for educational institutions for primary children to close down by 11 am.

Heatwave intensifies in UP

Heat wave conditions intensified in Uttar Pradesh with the mercury levels continuing to hover around 44-45 degrees at many places on Thursday, DHNS reports from Lucknow.
According to the official sources here, Allahabad, with 45.3 degrees, remained the hottest place in the state. Maximum temperature in Gorakhpur also remained high at 43 degrees. The situation was no better in the arid Bundelkhand region where the mercury remained above 43 degrees at several places.