June 10, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1428

LAHORE, June 9: Braving 48 degrees Celsius after about 78 years on Saturday, Lahorites started praying for an early monsoon to find relief from the scorching heat.

The ongoing heatwave is hitting almost all parts of the country, including the Northern Areas. Though some link the high temperatures in Lahore directly with tree shortage, many others hold excessive emissions by vehicles and industrial units responsible for it.

Sweltering heat, combined with unannounced outages, have made life miserable for the city’s 7.5 million dwellers.

Water shortage, in the wake of long spells of loadsheding, has further compounded the problems in various parts of the city.

As Multan, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kohat and Rohri shared the mercury zone with Lahore on Saturday, the temperatures also remained exceptionally high in Mianwali, Sibbi, Sargodha, Larkana, Bannu, Nawabshah and Jacobabad where it was recorded maximum at 51, 51, 50, 48, 50.7, 49 and 49 degrees Celsius, respectively.

A metrological department official told Dawn that the Lahore temperature till 4pm on Saturday afternoon was recorded at different places at 48 C.

Earlier, he said, such a high temperature in the

city was recorded on June 8, 1929, and added that the current heatwave would continue for at least next two to three days.

Though youngsters’ taking bath in the Lahore Canal have become a permanent feature of the city on hot summer days, on Saturday it was swarmed by them at different points.

The students at private schools have been suffering the most this summer, as their administrations have not yet announced vacation despite the increasing temperature.

“I fail to understand why the private schools do not follow the public schools’ holiday calendar. It irritates me and my children alike, but I am left with no other option but to follow the orders of school administration as those in public sector are not offering good education,” said Sikandar Sultan, a resident of Model Town, said.

Saturday was also one of the toughest days for commuters, especially those travelling by two-wheelers and public transport.

“It takes me an hour to reach Civil Secretariat from Township by a bus, but today I felt that the distance could not be covered at all,” said an employee, Muhammad Azhar.