Sultry weather has pushed up the sales of air conditioners (ACs) in the state capital but frequent power cuts are stealing the much-needed respite from residents.

“There is a considerable rise in the sales of ACs this summer. We believe people are buying them because of the sultry weather condition,” said Nishant Prabhakar, the managing director of Aditya Vision, an electronic shop on Bailey Road.

Residents corroborated Prabhakar’s claim.

Ashiana Nagar resident Shubham Kumar told The Telegraph: “The weather is stuffy and uncomfortable. Fans are of no use anymore. If one takes a bath and does not enter an AC room immediately, one would be sweating within a minute or two. The only relief in this weather is an AC.”

The maximum humidity on Monday was 65 per cent.

Dealers of ACs claim that tormented residents are sparing no expense to get the brand of their choice.

While traditional window ACs are priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000, you can get a split model for Rs 26,000 to Rs 50,000.

“We are selling around 150 units everyday. The highest demand is for split ACs of 1.5 tonne,” said Prabhakar.

Shelling out hard-earned money, however, is no guarantee of an escape from the hot and humid conditions.

“Frequent power cuts are torturous for us,” said Shubham. “There’s load-shedding every few hours, especially during the day. In these humid conditions, power cut for a few minutes can also be agonising.”

Bihar’s daily requirement for power in summer is around 3,000MW. It got only 1,261MW from the central sector against its quota of 1,833MW on Monday. The state also purchased around 400MW from the open market but still fell short of the overall power requirement.

The short supply of power affected Patna as well. While its peak requirement is around 600MW, it got only 425MW on Monday.

The scorching sun, meanwhile, has forced residents to remain indoors. People are reluctant to go out on the streets even for pleasure. As a result, the footfall at eateries has come down considerably.

“We are experiencing around 50 per cent dip in the number of consumers during lunch hours for the past few weeks. We believe the heat is keeping them away,” said Ravindra Kumar, the general manager of Moti Mahal Deluxe, a restaurant at Patliputra.

Though the restaurant is air-conditioned, the effort of braving the scorching streets to reach its cool interiors can be a daunting prospect.

There is no relief on offer in the near future as well.

Weathermen said sultry conditions would prevail for at least the next two days. After that, the humidity might decline. The discomfort factor could also go down along with a rise in temperature.

Ashish Sen, director (radar), Patna Met department, told The Telegraph: “The maximum humidity on Monday was around 65 per cent. The easterly winds in the region since last Thursday has led to a rise in humidity. The winds with high moisture content would prevail for the next couple of days. Westerly winds would prevail after that. It would lead to a rise in temperature but the discomfort index would come down along with the humidity.”