Patna/Bhubaneswar/Mirzapur. In Bihar, 14 people including 10 polling workers died due to heat stroke in the last 24 hours. Officials gave this information on Friday. A statement issued by the Disaster Management Department said that most of the deaths occurred in Bhojpur, where five officials deployed on election duty died due to heat stroke.
The statement said that three election officials died in Rohtas, while one person each died in Kaimur and Aurangabad districts. Four others died in different parts of the state, it said. The process of giving ex-gratia to the families of the deceased has been started, the statement said. The state is in the grip of severe heat as the mercury has crossed 43 degrees Celsius in many places. On Friday, Aurangabad was the hottest place where the maximum temperature was recorded at 44 degrees Celsius. Due to the scorching heat, all schools, coaching institutes and Anganwadi centers have been closed till June 8.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed all District Magistrates to take precautionary measures to deal with the situation.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office, Kumar directed that arrangements should be made at every level for the safety of common people across the state.
The statement said, “There should be adequate arrangements for drinking water in all the districts. People should be made aware about the symptoms and prevention of heat wave. Immediate medical facilities should be provided to everyone in case of illness. People affected by heat wave should be treated immediately in hospital/medical college.” The statement said, “The Chief Minister has also directed that there should be no unnecessary power cuts anywhere, be it village or city. Adequate supply of electricity should be ensured in villages as well as cities.”
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Tejashwi Yadav said in a post on social media platform ‘X’, “When government schools have already been closed due to pressure from the opposition, why are teachers being asked to come to school in this scorching heat? When students themselves will not come to school, what will the teachers do? Teachers should be given leave in this scorching heat.” Elections are being held in seven phases for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, out of which voting will be held on Saturday for eight seats.
Odisha government confirmed the death of five people due to heat wave, investigation of 18 other cases is going on
The Odisha government on Friday confirmed that five people have died so far due to heat stroke in the state, while the death of 18 others due to heat-related illness is being investigated. According to Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahu, one death each has been confirmed in Balasore, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Sonepur and Bolangir. Apart from this, the government has received information about 18 deaths due to suspected heat stroke, of which 12 deaths have been reported in Sundargarh district and six in Jharsuguda district.
Sundargarh Additional District Magistrate Ashutosh Kulkarni said that currently 10 patients affected by heat wave are being treated in a private hospital in Rourkela, while 23 people are admitted in the government hospital. He said that the condition of all is stable. Jharsuguda Chief District Medical Officer Jaykrishna Nayak said that six cases of unnatural death have been reported in the district. He said that post-mortem of these bodies is being done to find out whether these people died due to heat wave.
Health Director Neelkanth Mishra has announced to send a special team to Rourkela to investigate the deaths. The district administration has been instructed to investigate these deaths. Also, under the Disaster Management Act, a strict warning has been issued not to employ workers during peak hours.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heat wave conditions in the state till June 3. In view of this, Satyabrata Sahu has urged the residents, especially those living in undivided Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kalahandi and Boudh districts, to stay indoors during peak hours. He said that hot and humid weather conditions are also likely to prevail in coastal areas.
13 election workers died after complaining of fever in Mirzapur: Principal of Medical College
13 election workers deployed for Lok Sabha elections in Mirzapur died in the medical college on Friday after complaining of high fever and high blood pressure, while 23 other election workers have been admitted to the hospital. The principal of the medical college located here gave this information. He said that the exact cause of death of all these workers could not be ascertained.
Dr. Raja Bahadur Kamal, Principal of Maa Vindhyavasini Autonomous State Medical College, Mirzapur, told PTI-Bhasha that the deceased include seven home guard jawans, three sanitation workers, a clerk posted in the CMO office, a consolidation officer and a peon of the Home Guard team. He said that when these patients were admitted to the medical college, they had complaints of high fever, high blood pressure and increased sugar.
Dr. Kamal said, “Out of the 13 dead, four were brought in dead condition. Two of these four were Home Guard jawans. Out of the total seven Home Guard jawans who died, five died after being brought to the hospital in an interval of 20-25 minutes. The deceased Home Guards were in the age group of 50-55 years.” He told that currently 23 election workers are admitted in the hospital, out of which one is a PAC jawan, one is a fire service jawan and one is a police jawan.
He said, “All these patients had complaints of high fever, high blood pressure and increased sugar. Almost everyone had high blood pressure and sugar levels. Most of the home guards were suffering from more than one disease.” According to the principal, the cause of death will be known from the post-mortem report.