The Assam State has been reeling under an unprecedented heat wave for the past few days. With the clouds virtually disappearing from the city's skyline this correspondent today met a cross section of people including Forest department officials who are literally gasping for a spell of rain.According to Forest department sources the State has topped the list of states in respect of degradation of forest cover during the period from 1993 to 1997. In this period the forest cover in the State was reduced by 480 sq km.