By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa extended the summer vacation of its schools Tuesday to June 27 due to the unprecedented heat wave gripping many parts of the state, officials said.
“The summer vacation was extended up to Saturday, June 27. The schools will now open on Monday, June 29,” a senior official of the state school and mass education department told IANS.
Usually the summer vacation in the state starts from May 1 and ends June 16 every year. However, this year the schools announced early vacation from April 21. Earlier, on June 16, the vacations were extended till June 23.
While several places continued to witness temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, some places recorded more than 45 degrees on Monday, I. Panda of the meteorological office here said.
The places that recorded high temperatures on Monday were Sambalpur 46.4 degrees Celsius, Titilagarh 45.5, Bolangir 44.2 and Talcher 44.1 degrees, Panda said adding that heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in the state during the next 48 hours.
The heat wave this summer has already claimed 56 lives in the state.
“Fifty-six people have died because of the heat wave this summer,” D.N. Sahu, officer on special duty in the state revenue control room told IANS.