PESHAWAR: Mercury shot up to 51 degree Celsius in Dera Ismail Khan as severe heat wave paralysed life in urban and rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday.

However, giving good news the Met office predicted relief in the temperature from Monday. According to the Met office, temperature in Bannu and Kohat was 48 degree Celsius. Residents in Peshawar also experienced another hottest day of the season as temperature rose to 47 degree Celsius.

Roads, streets and markets wore a deserted look and traffic was thin in Peshawar due to high temperature. “Peshawar has virtually turned into oven and baking weather is unbearable,” said Mohammad Rahim, a resident of Cantt area.

People particularly pedestrians were seen in the streets pouring water on their heads to beat the heat. According to official data temperature in Timergara was 46 degree, Pattan Kohistan 46 degree, Saidu Sharif 43 degree and Drosh (Chitral) 41 degree Celsius.

Weather in tourist resorts and hill stations like Malam Jaba, Kalam, Galiyat and Parachinar was relatively pleasant as temperature in these areas remained below 35 degree Celsius. Visitors from the down parts of the country particularly Punjab and Sindh had flocked mountainous areas of Malakand and Hazara divisions.

The hot weather throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forced people to remain indoors but prolonged power outages during Ramazan made their lives miserable. In villages and towns, people spend the whole day on riverbanks and enjoy swimming. However, dwellers of big cities like Peshawar have no other option but to bravo the excessive load-shedding. The women and children are the worst sufferers.

Majority of natural springs and wells have dried up in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa particularly Upper and Lower Dir, Swat, Buner and Malakand protected area due to drought that caused acute shortage of drinking water at homes and mosques.

The residents of Talash, Adenzai, Maidan and Jandol in Dir told Dawn that they had no drinking water for the last few days owing to low voltage of electricity and prolonged power outage. They said that natural springs and wells had dried up in their areas because of long dry spell, lack of snowfall and rains in winter.

The residents complained that the available voltage of electricity could not run big tubewells that supplied clean drinking water to them. “Women in my village use to fetch water from distant areas as they have no other means to get it,” Bashirul Haq, naib nazim of Samar Bagh said, adding there had been no water at homes and mosques.

Gul Zada, a tubewell operator in Talash, said that he remained awake all the night to run his tubewell for consumers but he failed to do so for the last 10 days. He said that voltage had dropped so much that it could not run the machine.

The residents demanded of authorities to expedite work on installation of solar panels at government water supply schemes as it was the only solution to their problem.

According to our correspondent in Swabi, the sizzling heat and power outages forced people to spend the day at various canals in the district.

Jamal Khan, a 16-year-old resident of Gohati village, said that he didn’t know how they would fast if the link canal was not flowing near their house.

Mohammad Irshad of Polodand village said that scorching heat and prolonged power outages forced them rush to the canal where they stayed for hours to beat the heat.

“Poor people in the district like me are very lucky to have canals close to their houses, otherwise it would have been difficult to spend the fasting day,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2017