Aizawl: With mercury rising rapidly, ice-cream sells like hot cakes in the sun-baked Aizawl city, which used to be one of the coolest places in the country, and the temperature recently shot up to an unprecedented 34 degrees Celsius.

The principal scientific officer of the science and technology wing in the state planning department, Vanlalzara, said the steep increase in temperature in Aizawl was because of a high rate of urbanisation and increase in vehicular emissions.

"The slash-and-burn system of cultivation and degradation of forests also contributed in fair measure to the temperature rise in the city," he said. However, C Ramhluna, principal chief conservator of forests of the state Environment and Forest Department, begged to differ on the degradation of forests being the contributor.

"The forest cover in Mizoram is 88.63 per cent which is the highest among all the states of the country. It is also increasing every year," he said. He reasoned that fast urbanisation and resultant pollution were the main causes behind the rise in temperature.
Source : PTI