Cuttack, Feb. 22: The heat is beginning to show its effect and it's not following the calendar this time. The sudden Celsius soar has forced the municipal corporation to get its act together a bit too early.

To ensure that the man on the street finds potable water at most places across the city, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation has decided to deploy 50 plastic water tanks in addition to the 100 that were installed last year.

The corporation held an emergency meeting here today to chalk out a strategy to combat possible heatwave conditions. In the past three days, the temperature in the city was 3-4°C higher than normal.

Though the corporation has begun to plan precautionary measures, residents want the temporary drinking water units, also known as Jala Chatras, to be made operative.

"The mercury has already touched 38°C in February and there is every possibility that the city will witness a severe heatwave condition this year. Hence, the corporation and district administration needs to ensure that drinking water units are set up much in advance," said Prakash Rout, a resident of Buxi Bazaar.

Though such temporary drinking units are usually set up in April, a final call about starting the service will be taken after reviewing the condition in the next few days, a civic official said.

"This time we have decided to install protective sheds to ensure that the tanks are not exposed directly to the sun. The move will be crucial as it will help keep the water in the plastic tanks cool," Gyana Das, municipal commissioner told The Telegraph.

Earlier, earthen pots were used to provide cool drinking water for which the civic body incurred an expenditure of Rs 12 to 14 lakh for setting up 100 such units in the city.

However, as bulk of the drinking water units ran dry after few days of its inauguration, the civic body had switched to plastic tanks from last year.

Das said that the public health engineering organisation has already submitted a status report of the existing water coolers in different parts of the city.

Sources said that out of the total 40 coolers here, only four are in working condition.

Bulk of the cold water units were earlier set up through MP and MLA funds and are now lying defunct owing to various problems, including theft of motor pumps and lack of proper maintenance.

"We had repaired four of them last year. As the spare parts are not available, it is difficult to run the units," said Bhawani Mohanty, assistant engineer at the public health department. Senior civic officials said the recommendation of the department to rope in private players to manage the coolers is under consideration.