Bhubaneswar:
As many as 2,734 people have lost their lives due to sunstroke in Orissa over a period of 12 years even as the state government claims to have spent crores of rupees in creating awareness among masses to beat the heat, official sources said.
While the figure of 2042 people dying of sunstroke remains the highest in 1998, the killer heat wave has continued to take human lives every year after that.
Altogether 236 people had died in 2005, sources said. However, it was alleged that the figure had went up to 582.
As sunstroke was not part of the relief code, the victims of poor families did not get any assistance from the government.
"The state government, however, gives only Rs 10,000 each to the victim's family from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund," a senior official at the Revenue and Disaster Management Department said.
Though the state government had asked the Centre to include sunstroke and lightening in the calamity relief fund, no action has been taken so far, the official said.
While sunstroke death last year was 67, it was comparatively less with 47 deaths in 2007. In 1999, as many as 91 people had died followed by 29 deaths in 2000, 25 in 2001, 41 in 2002, 68 in 2003 and 45 in 2004.
Although the official figures put the death figures to 22 this year, yet it is suspected that around 90 people have lost their lives till Sunday.
At least two government officials on poll duty were also victims of sunstroke this year, sources said adding that most of the victims belonged to poor and below poverty line (BPL) families.
When environmentalists have blamed it on global warming, the government has held the lack of awareness among people as responsible for the deaths.