By IANS
Jaipur : There is good news for Rajasthan. The desert state, which has been swooning under a heat wave for over a week with temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius in some places, could see a drop in the mercury in the next two days, the weatherman said Tuesday.
"There could be a drop in day temperatures over Rajasthan owing to easterly winds and also scattered thunderstorm activity during the next two-three days," a senior metrological official said. Temperatures in the state had dipped marginally in the past two days.
Though the state government has officially not released any figures on heat related deaths, the local media said 36 people have died.
The intense heat, with the mercury between 39 to 45 degrees Celsius, has forced people to remain indoors and rendered coolers ineffective.
"I have never seen this kind of high temperatures. It is unbearable," said 80-year-old S.K. Sarin.
Churu was blazing at 45 degrees Celsius, Sri Ganganagar a degree better at 44 and Kota at 43 degrees. The state capital Jaipur recorded 43 degrees, Ajmer 41 and Jodhpur 40 degrees Celsius.
While most were complaining about hot weather, shopkeepers selling coolers and air conditioners were doing brisk business.
"I was selling 20-30 air conditioners in a month earlier, but now I must have sold more than that in the last week or so," said Anand Kumar, an electronics shop owner.
It has been happy days too for Mahendra Singh, a manufacturer of desert coolers, whose sales have more than doubled in the last 10 days.