With mercury rising up to 46.2°C, plus an extreme heat wave coupled with humidity prevailing all across the state, the State government has announced the unscheduled summer vacation of all schools and other educational institutions until further notice.

Given the fact that on one side the fast disappearing forest cover, now down to 52,470 sq kms out of the total geographical area of 155,707 km² and rapid increase in greenhouse gasses, it exacerbates the frequency and intensity of heat waves.

Now one of the major hot spots is the state capital, Bhubaneswar, that records above 40.2°C, marking its first encounter with the 40-degree mark this year. What is noteworthy is that Bhubaneswar takes a leading position in the greenhouse emissions that aggravates the plight of common people on the streets.

It is not the heat but what is killing is the whopping humidity which has touched almost 75 to 80 percent, doubling the plight thus reducing human tolerance level during the daytime.

The speechless

It is not only humans but the impact of climate change has adversely affected other living beings as they have no alternative shelter during the solstices in the face of fast depletion of trees in particular.

It is worth recalling that since last one year one could notice the shocking absence of birds and insects from nature`s cycle.

Vultures, as such, are extinct already and many other birds have become rare and rare.

Perennially visible crows are no more visible in places like Bhubaneswar. Something quite unusual and shocking.

Sparrows are species that have become a creature of the past, ridding us all from those nostalgic chirps, and to look for them in the concrete monstrosity like cities and towns has become a dystopia.

In a repeat mention, no mynahs are found frolicking and hopping around, and their disappearance is just shocking.

Where are ants?

There was a time when even a crumb of any sweet was inviting thousands of ants. But today, even a full sweet lying bare on the ground or anywhere remains free of even a single ant.

“It affects at least 10,967 species on the IUCN Red List, and projections suggest that if global temperatures increase by 2°C by 2100, about 18% of all species on land will face extinction,” fears Biswajit Mohanty, environmental activist.
The rising sea temperatures, melting ice, and changing weather patterns caused by climate change are going to play havoc further.

Are we heading towards an existence where, in the days to come, life will be deprived of a minimum sustainable eco-diversity essential in a corresponding life-sequence? Even bigger ones like elephants, big cats, jackals and many others are on the run in a world of their (forest cover) that is shrinking fast.

The state capital stands out for many such dystrophic reasons and the authorities, those who have an obligation to redress such damages, close their eyes to many such realities.

“It is the mad race of unplanned township expansions in the capital city. In which the builder-government unholy nexus is nakedly visible anywhere and everywhere.”
“Unbelievable that there were sixteen natural (nullahs) water bodies once garlanding the city but, as on date, almost all of them have been given inglorious burial in Bhubaneswar replaced by apartments and apartments — both commercial and residential ones standing like behemoths,” rued Biswajit Mohanty.
That leaves the natural phenomenon of the creation of underground water tables impossible, as the rainwater simply flows through the concrete surfaces to join the twin rivers, Daya and Bhargavi in the South end and river Kuakhai in the North.

“Creation of some Gardens or ‘Batikas’ in the middle of barren regions can never compensate the past and let’s have a glance at the plight of trees,” goes on Mohanty.
“In Bhubaneswar the governments have felled a considerable number of shadow-yielding trees, some of them a century or half-century old for various projects including road expansion and construction, with a significant number for road expansion.”
For instance, a little over 7,800 trees were felled between 2019–20 and 2022–23. But the government claims to have compensated by afforestation far and far from the location of desertification.

But the number of trees afforested is so abysmally less in comparison to the felled numbers.

Another data shows that, for example, 18.5 million trees were felled for road widening in Odisha in a decade, with a significant number of these being in Bhubaneswar.

The highest recorded temperature in Bhubaneswar in the last 20 years (up to April 24, 2025) was 45.9°C, recorded on June 5, 2012. This was the highest temperature in the city in seven years at the time.

Newspapers reported that the extreme heat was attributed to a sudden shift in wind patterns.

Now it is April and what is feared is what happens when the June or July solstice starts.

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