Odisha Govt Confirms 9 Deaths Due To Sunstroke This Season

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Saturday confirmed death of 9 persons due to sunstroke in the state so far in this summer.

In a press release, the government said there were reports of total 96 deaths due to suspected sunstroke. It has been confirmed that 6 of 42 cases reported till May 30 were due to sunstroke while 6 were not due to sunstroke. Similarly, of 54 alleged cases in the last 48 hours, 3 were confirmed as sunstroke deaths.

The Chief Secretary and Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) held a review meeting with all district collectors except Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Cuttack on Saturday. The collectors were instructed to ensure implementation of heatwave advisories and precautionary measures issued by the SRC.

“The collectors have been directed that the SRC order issued on June 1, 2015 should be followed scrupulously. Post-mortem is mandatory for sanction of ex gratia assistance. This apart, joint inquiry by the Local Revenue officer and the local medical officer should be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of the death,” the release stated.

At the same time, the government said the situation was being monitored round the clock by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner.