Of the 15 hottest places in the world in the past 24 hours, eight were in India with the others in neighbouring Pakistan, according to weather monitoring website El Dorado.

In Pakistan, Jacobabad continued to be the hottest place with 51 degrees Celsius maximum temperature for the second day running. The highest ever maximum temperature of the Sindh city, which is closer to Balochistan in the north, is 53C that was recorded in 1919.

Padidan, Dadu, Bahawalnagar, Sibbi, Rahim Yar Khan, Rohri, Moenjodero, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad, Lahore and Multan also experienced high temperatures from 45 to 50 degrees Celsius.

Roads wore a deserted look throughout the day as it was too hot to brave in the open. A number of people including women and children were seen beating the heat at the Lahore canal. Disruption of power and water supply in many localities like in Samanabad added to the hardships of people.

Churu, a city in the west of the northern state of Rajasthan, recorded the country's highest temperature of 48.9C on Monday, according to the Meteorological Department.

Churu has issued a heat wave advisory and government hospitals have prepared emergency wards with extra air conditioners, coolers and medicines, said Ramratan Sonkariya, the city's additional district magistrate.

Water is also being poured on the roads of Churu, known as the gateway to the Thar desert, to keep the temperature down and prevent them from melting, Sonkariya added.

A farmer from Sikar district in Rajasthan died on Sunday due to heatstroke, state government officials said. Media reported on Friday that 17 had died over the past three weeks due to a heatwave in the southern state of Telangana. A state official said it would confirm the number of deaths only after the causes had been ascertained.

The temperature in New Delhi touched 44.6C on Sunday. One food delivery app, Zomato, asked its customers to greet delivery staff with a glass of cold water.

Heat wave warnings were issued on Monday for some places in western Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh state.

The monsoon, which brings down the heat, is likely to begin on the southern coast on June 6, the weather office said last month.

The three-month, pre-monsoon season, which ended on May 31, was the second driest in the last 65 years, India's only private forecaster, Skymet, said, with a national average of 99 mm of rain against the normal average of 131.5 mm for the season.