Lokmat News Network (Nagpur)
The good news is that with the Southwest monsoon hitting Kerala a day earlier on Thursday, the weatherman expects showers to greet the city by June 4. Clouds are expected to enter Vidarbha a day earlier and the monsoon season set in on June 12. The sad part is that the city will have to endure the onslaught of a burning sun for a couple of more days as 'Nautapa' heatwaves will continue to batter entire Vidarbha keeping the mercury on the high. Nagpur recorded 44.6 degrees celsius on Thursday while Brahmapuri in Vidarbha burned at 46.9 degrees. Neighbouring Chandarpur was at 45.6 degrees while Gadchiroli, known for its wonderful tree cover, recorded 45.0 degrees celsius. Bhandara was at 45.3 degrees, Amravati (44.2), Wardha (45.0), Washim (42.8), Yavatmal (43.5) and Buldhana (39.0).
Rains are expected to progress to cover entire Maharashtra on June 4-5 from the Mumbai end and on June 12-13 from the Bay of Bengal. Weather experts have predicted that Easterly monsoon clouds will start accumulating over the skies of Vidarbha in the next three days. As per the forecast given by Meteorologist Milind Phadke, cloudy weather, light rain with thundershowers are likely over Akola, Washim areas till June 3 and East Vidarbha including Nagpur till June 4-5. At present, the progress of monsoon is very favorable and there is a possibility that the monsoon will arrive in Vidarbha, Marathwada by June 12 from the branch of the Arabian Sea to Mumbai, Konkan and other areas and from the branch of the Bay of Bengal. According to Milind Phadke, this year there will be very good rain from the beginning till September 15. If the temperature increases, there may be problems during sowing.
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Three more persons were found unconscious by the police at Kalamna area in the city and at Kamptee who were declared dead by doctors at Mayo Hospital later. This takes the total number of people found dead on city streets over the past few days to seven. A man believed to be in his 50s was rushed to Mayo Hospital by Kalamna Police only to be pronounced dead on admission. Similarly, another unidentified man around 32 years of age was also found by Kalamna Police near Kirti Restaurant Square in their jurisdiction and declared dead on admission. The New Kamptee Police found a middle aged man lying motionless near New Kasturchand Daga Bal Sadan on Bus Stand road and taken to Mayo Hospital where doctors could not revive him.
Meanwhile, only two patients were found in the medical and municipal wards for heatstroke patients. There were allegations of patients suffering from heat stroke being admitted but being shown in records as suffering from high fever. At present, 10 to 15 patients out of 100 patients have fever in government hospitals including municipal hospitals. However, doctors are treating them for fever to avoid the paperwork involved in treating heat stroke patients. The health department has to be informed while admitting patients suffering from heat stroke and to avoid this, most clinics treat patients as febrile patients. There are reports of at least 12 patients losing their lives to heat stroke during the past month. There is a 'death audit committee' to check whether it is a heat stroke death. But the meeting of this committee has not yet been held.