Heatwave claims 167 lives in Telangana

Hyderabad: As many as 167 people have died reportedly due to sunstroke in Telangana since April 1 as the state continues to reel under blistering heatwave, a senior official of the state disaster management said here on Friday.

However, these casualties are yet to be recognised as 'heatwave deaths'.

Three-member government committees, consisting of a tehsildar, a police sub-inspector and a civil Surgeon, in each mandal (administrative unit) will have to confirm that these deaths were due to heatwave.

"These (167) deaths (till date) should be confirmed by the committees as heatwave deaths. Then only it can be recognised as heatwave deaths and financial assistance will be sanctioned accordingly.

"All the deaths are currently under scrutiny. No death has been confirmed as a heatwave death as yet," the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Telangana has been experiencing severe heatwave for the past few days with temperatures crossing the 40 degree-mark in most of the places.

According to the Meteorological Department, heatwave conditions are likely to prevail in isolated places of Telangana during the next five days.

Also, the weather will be dry all over the state, it added.

Temperatures rose in a few places over Telangana since yesterday and were above normal at one or two places in the state.

Bhadrachalam, Ramagundam and Nalgonda were the hottest places in the state with each recording maximum temperature of 46 degrees Celsius, it added.