Joypur December 23 :\u00a0 As Koraput begins to feel the winter chill after a long wait, the district emergency office asked the administration to open night shelters for the needy in schools and other available public buildings with immediate effect. On Tuesday, locals woke up to snowflakes in some parts of the district as minimum temperature dropped below 5 degree celsius. intense cold wave conditions gripped both hilly and plain areas in the district, prompting the administration to swing into action and take necessary measures to provide shelter to the destitute.While the mercury in interior pockets like nandapur, Damonjodi, Deomali, Pottangi and Dasmantpur dipped to 3 degree celsius, lowest ever on the day, locals in Pottangi and Deomali experienced a frostcovered morning.<\/p>\n
The district emergency office alerted block development officers, tehsildars and executive officers to be on toes, and make arrangements for the poor as the cold wave is likely to persist for the next couple of days. The administration also directed officials to submit cold-related reports to the emergency office every day for further action at the district level.<\/p>\n
Sundargarh in grip of intense cold conditions<\/strong><\/p>\n Rourkela:\u00a0<\/strong>Intense cold wave conditions prevailed across Rourkela and rest of Sundargarh district with minimum temperature plummeting below 10 degree celsius since Monday. Sources said the minimum temperature in Rourkela city on Tuesday hovered around 9 degree celsius. Unofficial sources claimed that minimum temperature dropped to 5 degree celsius in some forested and hilly pockets of Koida mining circle. For last two days, dense fog enveloped the city till 9 am in the morning. Market places witnessed fewer people as many avoided stepping out of their homes.<\/p>\n