As the national capital continues to sizzle under severe heatwave conditions with the mercury touching 50 degrees Celsius, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena issued orders on Wednesday to provide a three-hour paid break to labourers. As per the order, all the workers and labourers will be given a paid leave between 12 noon to 3 pm.
The LG has ordered to provide adequate water and coconut water to the workers at construction sites and has also instructed to keep water in pitchers at bus stands.
Saxena criticised the Kejriwal government for not taking any steps till now for the 'Summer Heat Action Plan'.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also announced that 26 government hospitals in Delhi will reserve two beds each for heatstroke patients, as the capital is facing severe heatwave.
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Delhi on Wednesday recorded the highest-ever temperature at 49.9 degrees Celsius in Narela and Mungeshpur.
Pusa and Pitampura too recorded high temperatures as the mercury touched 48.5 degrees Celsius at both the places.
Several other parts of the national capital breached the 45 degree mark. These included Safdarjung (45.8 degrees), Ayanagar (47.6 degrees), Ridge (47.5 degrees) and Palam (45 degrees).
The outskirts of the national capital witnessed very high temperatures.
Explaining the reason behind this, Mahesh Palawat, the vice president of Meteorology and Climate Change at Skymet Weather said: "When wind blows from the west, it affects these areas first. As they are on the outskirts, temperatures rise rapidly."
"Delhi's outskirts are the first areas to be hit by hot winds from Rajasthan," The head of IMD, Kuldeep Srivastava stated.
The India Meteorlogical Department stated that the heatwave conditions are likely to persist in Delhi for the next few days.
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