With temperatures soaring to a record 48.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, Banda in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region has emerged as the hottest place in the country, triggering an unprecedented heat crisis that has brought daily life to a halt by mid-morning.
So severe is the heat that markets empty out before noon. In Attara town, jeweller Lakhan Gupta told reporters that he now starts work at 6am and returns home before the heat intensifies. “Since April, I have sold almost nothing,” Gupta was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times. “After 10 am, Banda becomes deserted. At first, you see one or two people outside. Then, as the day rises, there is only silence.”
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The district had earlier recorded 47.6°C on April 27 — its highest April temperature since 1951. Researchers say Banda's extreme heat is no longer an isolated weather event but the result of years of environmental degradation across the fragile Bundelkhand landscape.
Farmers have reportedly shifted to working at night under LED floodlights, while labourers are refusing daytime work despite losing wages. Food stalls now open only after sunset, and migration from villages has begun earlier than usual.
“The time has come to look at this seriously. Otherwise Banda will not remain liveable,” says Prahlad Valmiki, a resident of Bhadedu village, told the newspaper.
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Experts link the worsening conditions to deforestation, unchecked mining and large-scale sand extraction from rivers. A study co-authored by Banda Agriculture University researcher Arjun P Varma found the district lost nearly one-sixth of its dense forest cover over three decades. “The major reasons are large-scale mining and agricultural encroachment inside forest land,” Varma was reported as saying.
Geologists warn the destruction of the Vindhyan hills and river ecosystems has accelerated groundwater depletion, reduced moisture retention and intensified the region's heat island effect.
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