City of Taj reels under intense heat wave with Agra recording 46.5 degrees Celsius on Saturday (May 18), a day after it recorded the maximum temperature at 46.9 degrees Celsius across the country.
The city roads were lifeless with temperature rising as day proceeded, reported The Hindustan Times. “The rising temperature has impacted tourism and Taj Mahal is having half the usual number of visitors these days. ‘There used to be on average 25,000 to 30,000 tourism in a day when weather was fine but with onset of summers, the number has gone down to 12,000 to 15,000 in a day with number rising to 20,000 sometimes on weekend,” said Prince Vajpayee, the senior conservation assistant of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
“The strong heat wave has been having its impact on tourists coming to Taj Mahal and a special team of ASI working as ‘May I Help You’ unit has come to the rescue of tourists falling ill on Taj Mahal premises,” he said.
“About a hundred tourists have been provided timely assistance on deterioration of their health because of heat in the past one month. The exhausted tourists complained of nausea, giddiness, blood pressure and were provided first aid at a dispensary run by the health department of Agra on Taj Mahal premises,” said Vajpayee.
Meanwhile, the health department has issued an advisory which urges denizens to stay indoors till the heat wave is on. Chief medical officer Dr AK Srivastava claimed that Rapid Response Teams (RRT) have been constituted. “Community health centre (CHC) and primary health centre (PHC) have been asked to remain updated,” said CMO Agra.
