The winter capital Jammu recorded its hottest day of the season so far as the mercury touched 40° Celsius, officials said, as protest against power cuts and water crisis continued in different parts of the Union Territory.
An official of the Meteorological department said the mercury continued its upward trend in Jammu where the maximum temperature settled at 40° Celsius, which is 4.4 notches above the normal for this part of the season.
This was the first time this season that the day temperature touched the 40° Celsius-mark in Jammu which is reeling under rising temperature since March owing to a prolonged dry spell.
The minimum temperature in the city, however, was near normal at 21.7° Celsius, the official said.
Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine, recorded a high of 37.1° Celsius and a low of 21.7° Celsius, the official said.
The summer capital Srinagar, on the other hand, witnessed a pleasant weather with a day temperature of 28.1° Celsius and a night temperature of 10.4° Celsius.
Amid the rising temperatures, Jammu witnessed massive protests over unscheduled power cuts and acute shortage of drinking water over the past two weeks.
In order to meet the increasing electricity demand in Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Government has allocated 207 MW additional Power to the Union Territory, Principal Secretary to Power Development Department, Nitishwar Kumar said.
Mr. Kumar, who is also principal secretary to the Lt Governor, said the order issued by the Union Ministry of Power will substantially increase the availability of power in J&K.
The Union Government has allocated additional power from the unallocated quota of Central Generating Stations of Northern Region Pool to Jammu and Kashmir.
