Odisha Heatwave: Suspected Sunstroke Deaths Mount To 96

Bhubaneswar: The toll due to suspected sunstroke mounted to 96 in Odisha following 67 more deaths reported in last three days as several parts of the state experienced intense heatwave conditions.

The state government has so far confirmed nine heatstroke deaths while autopsy reports of 81 cases are pending at the district level.

Official sources said there were reports of total 96 deaths due to sunstroke. The government confirmed that six 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 three days, 3 were confirmed as sunstroke deaths.

Among the deceased include a booth level officer in Binjharpur block of Jajpur district. He died while performing election duty, while an elderly voter collapsed and died while waiting in the queue at a booth in Nilagiri block of Balasore district on Saturday.

Balangir reported 20 suspected heatstroke deaths in the past two days, the highest so far, followed by Sambalpur at 15. The rest of the deaths are scattered across western Odisha.

Amid reports of deaths received from different districts, Chief Secretary P K Jena and Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu held a meeting with district collectors on Saturday to take stock of the situation.

The collectors were instructed to ensure the implementation of heatwave advisories and precautionary measures issued by the SRC.

The review meeting was held with all district collectors except Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Cuttack on Saturday.

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 situation is being monitored round the clock by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner.