Amid heat wave, Odisha gears up to counter El Nino threat

The prevailing heat wave in the state that has seen temperature hovering around 40 degrees in many places is likely to persist till May 5, a Met forecast suggested even as the state is gearing up to counter a deficient monsoon that may be induced by the El Nino factor.

Temperature in 13 towns in the state shot beyond 40 degree on Thursday due to intense heat wave. Talcher recorded the highest temperature at 43.8 followed by Bhawanipatna (42.7) and Bolangir (42). Bhubaneswar clocked 41.6 degree. The maximum temperatures recorded in other towns in the state (in degree celsius) are Balasore (38.4), Chandabali (41.4), Cuttack (39.2), Paradip (32), Gopalpur (33), Puri (33.4), Angul (42.3), Jharsuguda (41.7), Keonjhar (40.3), Sambalpur (41.8), Sundargarh (40.5), Hirakud (41.2), Koraput (37.2), Phulabani (40.2), Titlagarh (42.5), Sonepur (37) and Daringibadi (36).

The regional Met office has forecast rain or thundershowers at one or two places in the state between April 29 and May 1.

While clear sky has been predicted for Bhubaneswar for the next 24 hours, the Met office has not ruled out the possibility of thunder cloud. The maximum and minimum temperatures in the city for Tuesday have been forecast at 42 and 26 degrees respectively.

The state government, meanwhile, is gearing up to face the possible fall out of El Nino induced less than normal monsoon and consequential drought and power shortfall.

“Our directorate has prepared a contingency plan for any possible drought like situation. We will go for crop diversification in areas where drought erupts,” said R S Gopalan, director, agriculture & food production.’

Water resources secretary Suresh Mohapatra said, there will be no problems for irrigated land. However, a deficient monsoon will affect non-irrigated agricultural areas for which alternate arrangements will be worked out, said he.

The state government, however, does not see any possibility of power scarcity.

“There will be no power shortfall as the state is in a very comfortable position. Even in the worst case, there would be no deficit as we will harness power from the captive power plants,” said P K Jena, principal secretary (energy).

An El Nino induced below normal monsoon this year could have a bearing on economic growth in 2014-15, leading to inflation. According to an HSBC report,  inflation may remain sticky in the current financial year as a possible El Nino effect on the monsoon is likely to push up food prices.

El Nino refers to the warmer-than-average sea surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This condition occurs every 4-12 years and had last impacted India’s monsoon in 2009, leading to the worst drought in almost four decades.