Sonepur: As Odisha battles an unrelenting heatwave with temperatures soaring above 43°C in several districts, a school headmaster tragically lost his life to suspected sunstroke following census enumeration work in Sonepur district.
The deceased has been identified as Bansidhar Bhoi, a resident of Bamaraj village under Ulunda block. Bhoi, who served as the headmaster of Sunapali Primary School, was assigned house-to-house enumeration duties as part of the ongoing census operations.
According to family sources, he completed his work at Sunapali village on Sunday and complained of uneasiness after returning home in the afternoon. He was rushed to Birmaharajpur sub-divisional hospital but passed away while undergoing treatment.
Bhoi is survived by his wife and two unmarried daughters.
His wife alleged that exposure to extreme heat and harsh weather conditions during the census work contributed to his death, which has also sparked concerns about the safety and working conditions for field staff, including teachers and enumerators, who are required to perform strenuous outdoor tasks amid the state’s blistering summer.
Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation and sent his body for postmortem to determine the exact cause of death.
While sultry weather condition persists in coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Ganjam and Gajapati, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heatwave conditions in Jharsuguda and Balangir for three days from April 22. Warn night warning has also been issued for Sundargarh, Bolangir & Sambalpur on April 20 and Angul, Kandhamal, Sundargarh, Balangir & Sambalpur on April 21-22.
