Most places in lower hills of HP reel under scorching sun

Most places in the lower hills of Himachal Pradesh reeled under scorching sun and Una in the Shiwalik foothills experienced the hottest day of the season with the maximum of 43.4 degrees Celsius.

Mercury breached 40 degrees Celsius mark at some places and Bilaspur recorded a high of 41 degrees Celsius while Sundernagar recorded the maximum temperature at 38.7 degrees Celsius, followed by Solan 34.4 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 33.4 degrees Celsius Palampur 33 degrees Celsius, Shimla 28.4 degrees Celsius, Manali 24.6 degrees Celsius.

The local Meteorological office has warned of heat wave conditions in the lower hills tomorrow and dry weather for the next six days.

The MeT office has also forecast dry weather in the mid and higher hills for three days from May 26 to 29 and rain and thundershowers in the mid hills and rains or snow in the higher hills from May 29 onwards.

There was no significant change in the night temperatures and Keylong, Manali and Kalpa recorded a low of 6.4 degrees Celsius, 7.2 degrees Celsius and 7.6 degrees Celsius, while Bhuntar registered minimum temperature at 12.5 degrees Celsius, followed by Sundernagar 16 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 21.8 degrees Celsius and Nahan 25.5 degrees Celsius.

The rise in temperature has triggered forest fires across the state while drying of water sources has created acute water shortage in Shimla and surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today directed the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) department to ensure proper supply of drinking water.

He said that almost no snowfall during the winter season has adversely affected the water sources and efforts should be made for adopting alternative arrangement in the water scarcity areas.

Presiding over the Review Meeting of Irrigation and Public Health department here, he said that efforts should also be made for installation of hand pumps in drought-prone areas and tankers should be pressed into service for supply of water.