Hot weather to persist in first 10 days of Ramazan; 10 hours loadshedding for industries from today to provide uninterrupted supply during Sehr, Iftar and Taraveeh
LAHORE: A severe heatwave continued on Sunday claiming at least five lives and rendering dozens of others unconscious.
In Syedwala, a man fell to the ground due to severe heat and died on the spot. He had come to the bazaar for shopping. In Warburton, a woman identified as Fareeda Bibi also fell unconscious in bazaar and later died in hospital. Three people died due to blazing sun in Sahiwal, though their identities could not be confirmed immediately.
Nizam Din (70) of Gujranwala, Tehmina of Nowsheran Virkan, aged Bashiran Bibi of Khanqah Dogran, Sakina Bibi of Gakhar Mandi, six women in Kasur, three people of Chak-11 in Sahiwal, 60-year-old Muhammad Iqbal of Chak 7-L, 61-year-old Nasim Bibi of Kot Khadim Ali Shah, 40-year-old Surraiya of Farid Town in Sahiwal fell unconscious and were admitted to the area hospitals for first aid.
There was no let up in power outages despite a weekly holiday, forcing people to hold violent demonstrations in various cities. According to official announcement, industrial units would face 10 hours of loadshedding from Monday (today) to ensure electricity provision during Sehr and Iftar and Taraveeh.
In Hafizabad and Jalalpur Bhattian, powerlooms labourers protested against Wapda authorities and beat their chests in protest against suspension of power for the whole day. The long loadshedding has rendered many powerlooms labourers jobless. During the demonstration, they warned of besieging the local Wapda offices if the issue of unannounced loadshedding was not resolved immediately.
In Sarai Alamgir, Mandi Bahauddin and Sialkot also, unannounced loadshedding made people’s lives miserable. Due to continuous loadshedding, supply of water also remained suspended, further aggravating the situation.
In Gujrat, Khanqah Dogran and Lalamusa electricity remained suspended for up to 18-20 hours. In the Samanabad area of Lahore, people also held a demonstration against outages and unannounced loadshedding.
In Muzaffarabad (Azad Jammu & Kashmir), people had to suffer from 19 hours outages during the last 24 hours, and they held demonstrations. In Sukkur, people protested with electricity bills in their hasnds and bulbs and meters hanging from their necks.
According to weather forecast, the heat-wave and dry weather would continue in the first 10 days of the fasting month of Ramazan.
Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country today (Monday.) Rawalpindi is expected to face 43°C on Monday with bright sun but with some isolated clouds. Temperatures continued to soar with Jacobabad facing the highest temperatures of 47 degrees Celsius, followed by Okara, Bhakkar, Rahim Yar Khan, Rohri, Dadu, Sibbi, Mandi Bahauddin, Bahawalnagar, Jhelum at 46°C and Lahore 44°C.
Faisalabad faced extreme heat as the mercury touched 45°C on Sunday and is predicted to further rise as the week proceeds and is expected to touch 49°C on Wednesday and the weekend. Multan faced 45°C which is predicted to stay for the next few days.