With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives in April in India, officials have banned daytime cooking in some parts of the country.
The eastern state of Bihar this week took the unprecedented step of forbidding any cooking between 9am and 6pm, after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people. People were instead told to cook to night.
Rivers and dams have dried up due to severe heatwave that has swept almost entire Maharashtra where reservoirs have come down to just 23 percent capacity.
Latur, for instance, has to rely on water trains to meet the daily demand of water.
At least 300 people have died of heat-related illness this month, including 110 in the state of Odisha, 137 in Telangana and another 45 in Andhra Pradesh where temperatures since the start of April have been hovering around 45°C.
Though Monsoon is not expected to hit the country before June, pre-Monsoon showers expected this week and during this month are likely to bring brief respite from the deadly heatwave.
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