Daytime cooking damned in parts of drought-stricken India

With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives this month in India, officials have banned daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country in a bid to prevent accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 more people.

The website of the NDTV television channel said cooking would not be allowed in villages in the eastern Bihar state between 9am and 6pm during the summer months and those who violated the order could be jailed for up to two years.

"We call this the fire season in Bihar," a state-disaster management official said. "Strong, westerly winds stoke fires which spread easily and cause great damage."

Bihar took the decision after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people.

People were instead told to cook at night.

Among those who died were 10 children and five adults killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in Bihar's Aurangabad district last week.

Read the Aljazeera story - “India drought: Bihar state bans daytime cooking.”