Chandigarh, June 27 (IANS) Residents of the union territory of Chandigarh and the states of Punjab and Haryana continued to reel under the scorching summer heat. However, weather officials promise some respite by Monday.
According to the meteorological office here, the tentative date of arrival of monsoon in this region is June 29, and clouds were expected to prevail in some parts of the region from Monday.

There is a possibility that heat would also subside to some extent, the duty officer told IANS, saying there were heat waves conditions all over Punjab and Haryana and the temperature was above the 40 degree mark in most parts of the region for the past many days.

Hisar town in Haryana was the hottest in the region at 45.2 degrees Celsius, meteorological officials said. Ambala and Karnal towns in Haryana recorded 41 and 41.2 degrees Celsius respectively.

The temperature recorded in the state capital Chandigarh was 42.4 degrees Celsius, three degrees above average.

In Punjab, the cities of Ludhiana and Patiala recorded 42.1 and 42.4 degrees Celsius respectively, while the temperature in Amritsar was 42.6 degrees Celsius.

In the wake of sweltering heat, the Chandigarh education department has decided to extend the summer vacation of schools till July 7. Earlier the schools were supposed to reopen July 1.

Mayank Bhatia, a class 10 student here, said: “We are thankful to the administration that they have extended the summer break as it is quite difficult to step out of home in the afternoon because of boiling sun over our head.”