Titilagarh (Orissa), June 05: This sub-divisional town and rail head in Balangir district is being referred to these days as Tatalagarh, which roughly translated into English means a hot place. The town, with a population of about 35,000 people, continued to hog the spotlight this summer with the maximum day temperature never recede below a blistering 48 degree celcius for the last one week.

Surrounded by bald hills, this town has been turning into a virtual furnace every summer and situation became unbearable on May 31 when the mercury soared to a 49.6 d c.

Nearly 100 residents, mostly the well to do, decided to leave the town temporarily to escape the heat. "No one will want to live here during the summer, but we have no option," said a bank employee.

"Even the air-conditioners don't work here properly and in my bank two acs can't bring down the room temperature below 35 degree c," he said.

Saturday's high temperature caused the death of scores of birds, mostly crows, pigeons and sparrows.
Though the scene is more or less the same in the entire western belt with towns like Sambalpur, Balangir, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Sundargarh and Bhawanipatna routinely registering temperatures of 46 degree c or more, the case of Titilagarh seemed something special.

Officials blame the hills surrounding the town for the high temperature saying they radiated heat causing the place to remain hot for long hours. The lack of vegetation in and around the town has compounded the problem, they say.
Bureau Report