Government Offices in Khuzestan Closed at 1 PM Due to Heat

The heat has caused all government offices and banks in the cities of Khuzestan province to operate only until 1 PM on Monday, August 1. According to Hashem Baladi, the director of crisis management at the Khuzestan governorate, this decision was made based on reports from the Khuzestan meteorological organization. Baladi stated that temperatures in some cities of Khuzestan reached 49 degrees Celsius on that day, and this decision was made by the crisis management headquarters of the Khuzestan governorate to 'manage energy consumption.' According to forecasts from the Khuzestan meteorological organization, temperatures in 11 counties of the province on that Monday will be between 49 to 51 degrees. Kourosh Bahadri, the director of the Khuzestan meteorological organization, stated in an interview with ISNA that 'based on meteorological models, the same situation will occur tomorrow in the province.' The question of whether government offices, banks, and other organizations in Khuzestan should close due to excessive heat has always been a concern for the residents of this province. In this regard, Seyyed Sharif Hosseini, a former representative of this province in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, mentioned in an interview with Tasnim in May 2015 that this issue is 'a common discussion among the people' and noted that 'there is no law regarding this, but the governor of Khuzestan can issue a closure order if necessary.' Meanwhile, Shakarkhoda Mousavi, another representative of this province in the ninth parliament, stated at the same time to Tasnim that 'there is a clause in the law regarding air pollution or environmental conditions that states if the temperature exceeds 55 degrees, organizations, offices, and especially hard and hazardous jobs must be closed.' Khuzestan province usually suffers from extreme heat in the summer and dust phenomena in the cold seasons. In this context, fires have damaged one-third of the Karkheh National Park in Khuzestan, with fires in 2016 causing damage to '5,800 hectares of national land.'