Vijayawada: With the diurnal temperature soaring, the usually busy roads in Vijayawada are wearing a deserted look from 10 am to 5 pm. People are postponing their works till the intensity of the heat reduces early in the evening.
For the last three days, the climate in Vijayawada has been changing drastically with the temperatures fluctuating fast between high and low, which is also affecting people’s health.
With the temperature being high and people not venturing out of houses, the shopkeepers are closing their establishments at 12 noon. Due to continuous sweating, even the traders and the workers are not able to sit in the shops.
Daily wage labourers, rickshaw pullers and auto rickshaw drivers are also taking rest under the cool shade of trees, the number of which has come down of late, with the civic authorities cutting down during Pushkaram, as part of beautification of the city and the continuous construction activity going on after being elevated as an important city near the capital Amaravati.
Only those who cannot postpone their works and having emergency are coming on to the roads, that too in cars, to protect themselves from the scorching sun.
Cars allow people to travel in the comfort of AC and so many are preferring cars to two-wheelers, even though the former leads to traffic snarls.
With cars plying in large numbers, the busy roads like Patamata, streets on 5 Number route, Bandar Road, Eluru Road and Satyanarayanapuram are frequently witnessing traffic jams.Even the pushcarts selling coconuts, cool drink and ice cream parlours are not seeing any rush with people confining themselves to houses.
Social service organisations and charitable trusts are distributing water and buttermilk setting up camps at busy junctions in the city.
Nayi Brahmana Seva Sangham secretary M. Mutyalu said, “As the temperature has been high for the last few days, our association decided to distribute buttermilk and we are doing it near Raghavendra Theatre, Ayodhya Nagar.”
Thimmisetty Raghava, a businessman in Auto Nagar, said the heat wave is at its peak this summer.
“People are preferring cars to keep the sweltering heat away. It is true that cars are leading to traffic problems but we are not able to withstand the heat and so going in cars," he added.
