The Odisha government has announced shutting down of all schools up to Class X in the State for five days from April 12 in the wake of sudden rise in daytime temperature. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who recently returned from Japan after a 9-day tour, held a review meeting with senior officials yesterday, following which he announced that all schools and anganwadi centres will remain closed till Sunday. On Tuesday, at least four places in the state including Bhubaneswar recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.
While Baripada recorded 41.6 degrees Celsius, Jharsuguda sizzled at 41.2 degree Celsius. Bhubaneswar recorded 40.7 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature of this year.With the mercury soaring across Odisha in the last two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of heatwave in the state during the upcoming Pana Sankranti festival.According to IMD, the maximum temperature is likely to rise gradually by 2-4 degrees Celsius over many parts of Odisha during the next five days. The IMD has issued a heat-wave warning for several districts from April 13-15, including Balasore, Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda."Due to northwesterly/westerly dry air and high solar insolation, the maximum temperature is very likely to rise further by 3-4 degrees Celsius in interior Odisha during the next four days, and at many places in other districts of the state," it said.