Raisuan: As cold wave has been gripping various parts of the state, two elderly persons allegedly died in Keonjhar district Wednesday. With sharp fall in temperatures, normal life has been thrown out of gear in Sadar block.
It was alleged that an elderly woman, Jemamani Munda, a resident of Kendupasi in Nuagaon panchayat, died due to severe cold.
Dushashan Nayak, 55, a resident of Saraskola, was found dead on road side Thursday. He had come to a local market Wednesday evening to make some purchases. His family members searched for him but failed to trace him out.
Some locals found his body along a road. Agitated by the incident, they demanded financial help to the bereaved families at the earliest.
It may be mentioned here that a look at the data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated a worrying trend. The death toll due to cold waves was higher than heat wave in 23 of the last 38 years (1980-2018) across the country.
In 1992, at least 41 more lives were lost due to cold waves than heat waves. Between 2010 and 2018, the trend was somewhat different. In this period, around 4,506 people died due to cold waves while 5,572 died due to heat waves. The notable exception was in 2011 when the human deaths due to cold waves were nearly 60 times more than those due to heat waves.
However, in 2018, the trend reversed again. About 136 people died due to cold waves in comparison to 16 deaths caused by heat waves.