KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, May 12: The number of deaths due to sunstroke in Orissa has increased to 29 as heat wave conditions continued to prevail in several interior districts of the State, officials said on Monday.

The heat wave has badly affected normal life in the western region of the State with no respite from high temperature.

The situation in the State's coastal belt, however, has improved with some areas experiencing thunderstorm and rain over the weekend.

Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Bargarh and Bolangir are all experiencing maximum day temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius for about three weeks now making it difficult for the people to cope with the heat. Drinking water problem has become acute in many areas in these districts.

According to the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, as many as 117 deaths sunstroke have been reported from different regions of the State so far.

The authorities, however, have claimed that that 69 of these deaths were found to have taken place due to other reasons.

The verification reports with regard to the remaining 19 deaths were awaited, officials in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department said.

Of the 29 deaths that had been officially confirmed to have occurred due to sunstroke, six have been reported from Dhenkanal district, five each from Jagatsinghpur and Khurda, and four from Angul.

Two sunstroke deaths each have been confirmed in Sambalpur, Jajpur and Puri and one each in Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Ganjam.