First, the bad news. There is no respite in sight from the sweltering heat till the onset of the monsoon.

Then, the ugly news. Electrical faults have added to the rotational loadshedding because of supply shortage, leading to widespread power cuts in the city and its adjoining districts.

“Even if there are some passing showers, they will not have much impact on the current hot spell. We expect the discomfort to continue till the onset of the rains,” warned G.C. Debnath, director of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore.

So, the city will have to sweat it out till June 8, the official date for the onset of the rains in Calcutta and the south Bengal districts. Debnath held out little hope of the rains coming early to Calcutta as the monsoon current had hardly moved after entering Kerala on May 28, four days ahead of schedule.

On Friday, the comfort index reading was 12 degrees into the discomfort zone. The maximum temperature on Friday was pegged at 37.8 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal, as the maximum humidity inched close to 90 per cent.

As if the sauna streets weren’t bad enough, the power cuts across the city are raising the ‘discomfort index’ at home beyond tolerance levels.

The Bengal Federation of Consumer Organisations (BFCO) has even sent a legal notice to the CESC, urging it to take immediate steps for smooth supply of power in parts of south Calcutta.

For over a fortnight, several parts of the EM Bypass and Rashbehari Avenue Connector have been hit by power cuts and low voltage. “If the CESC does not take immediate steps, we will move the consumer court,” warned BFCO working president Prabir Basu.

At the other end of town, a power fault in the Gouribari area on May 29 caused wild fluctuations in voltage, damaging electrical gadgets and tech tools in various homes.

“This year, we are facing a large number of faults due to overload of transformers. There has been a 100 MW-plus rise in demand, compared with last year,” said a senior CESC official.

An official of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company said the CESC should have factored in the demand increase and augmented its distribution network.