Terai Heatwave Disrupts Life, Causes Power Outages

Nepalgunj. Life has been disrupted in Banke and other Terai districts due to excessive heat. The streets here have become almost deserted as people are unable to go out due to the scorching sun and hot winds during the afternoon. With the increase in heat, there has been a rush of customers at places selling sugarcane juice and lassi.

According to Ramprasad Awasthi, chief of the Hydrology and Meteorology Department, Kohalpur, the highest temperature in Nepalgunj reached 45 degrees Celsius on June 14, 2012. Recently, excessive heat has been increasing in the Terai districts. He said that this has most affected school children and daily wage laborers.

Meteorological Department Chief Awasthi predicted that the temperature would reach 38 to 40 degrees Celsius by this evening, based on the temperature between 2:00 PM and 5:45 PM. He stated that the temperature reached 41.5 degrees Celsius, the highest this year, on Thursday, and has been continuously rising since May 4.

Chief Awasthi mentioned that temperatures are classified as hot days, very hot days, and extremely hot days, and decisions are made based on temperatures taken from Rajha Airport and Khajura Station, besides Kohalpur. "Although there are days when the heat lessens the next day, the heat is increasing," he said.

While the heat is disrupting daily life, the local people in this region are also facing difficulties due to power supply problems. Shivdatt Bhatta of Nepalgunj-9 said that even with electricity supply, low voltage has prevented fans from working properly in homes and offices, and has damaged equipment like water-drawing motors. He mentioned facing many difficulties due to irregular electricity supply and urged for a speedy resolution of this perennial problem.

Sanjaykumar Mishra, chief engineer at the Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepalgunj Distribution Center, informed that the power transmitted from the Kohalpur Grid Branch is overloaded, affecting the electricity line in Nepalgunj. He said, "I am personally working day and night to ensure regular electricity supply. However, the problem arises because the electricity distributed from the Kohalpur Grid Branch to the substation is low voltage."

Engineer Mishra stated that the problem in the 132/33 kV transmission line of the Kohalpur grid will be resolved in the long term once the work on the transmission line being constructed in Baksapur of Janaki is completed, expressing confidence that this will solve the electricity problem in Nepalgunj.

He informed that eight electricity transformers have been replaced so far to ease the electricity supply in this region. "New feeders have been arranged where problems have been identified," he said.