Heat wave begins to ebb, Met says rain coming soon
NEW DELHI: A blistering heat wave sweeping the country that has already claimed over 1,400 lives is likely to subside in north India from Thursday, the weather office said.
Dust storms and thundershowers over the next two days are expected to bring down temperatures in Delhi that has seen six deaths in 72 hours, but major relief is likely only after June 2 when good showers are anticipated, the Met department said.
“There will be a fall in day temperatures by about 2°C over plains of northwest, east India, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Vidarbha on May 28 and 29,” IMD director B P Yadav told HT.
The formation of a western disturbance — a windy system — over Iran and Afghanistan and a change in wind direction will lead to a lowering of temperatures, the IMD said. The respite began Wednesday evening as temperatures in Delhi dropped to 41.8ºC, down from 45 degrees the previous day. “There hasn’t been any breaking of records as far as the duration and intensity of the heat wave is concerned. But a continuous spell has caused health problems,” Yadav said.
Hours later, however, Singh met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7, RCR residence.
“As far as I am concerned, I can say in all humility I have not used my public office to enrich myself, my family or my friends. And still the BJP government keeps on harping on the theme of corruption, just because it wants to detract the attention of people to nonissues,” Singh said.
The BJP was quick to hit back, calling Singh a “puppet” and that a prime minister’s responsibility wasn’t limited to his personal integrity but extended to uprooting corruption from the entire system. “Under Manmohan’s leadership, scams worth R12 lakh crore were committed. How can the Congress shrug off its responsibility for this?” Amit Shah said in Surat.
The BJP chief also sought answers from the Congress on its zero-loss theory in spectrum and coal allocations. “By auctioning 229 coal blocks, more than R2 lakh crore have been added to the nation’s treasury. This shows there was a tremendous loss before,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Singh had chosen to “break his silence” when things had already been proved.
Singh’s clean image has come under a cloud recently after a trial court summoned him in a coal scam case, an order later quashed by the Supreme Court. He has maintained he wasn’t involved in the R1.86 crore coal allocation scandal but his opponents says as the then coal minister, the responsibility for one of India’s biggest scams must lie with Singh.
Singh also criticised the government’s economic policies. “BJP government had to manufacture, modify some statistical data to show that this last one year has not been that bad for economy. But their people say recovery has been very fragile.”
I CAN SAY IN ALL HUMILITY I HAVE NOT USED MY PUBLIC OFFICE TO ENRICH MYSELF, MY FAMILY OR MY FRIENDS. AND STILL THE BJP GOVERNMENT KEEPS ON HARPING ON THE THEME OF CORRUPTION.
MANMOHAN SINGH, former PM