TS Govt directs collectors to prepare for hotter summer

Hyderabad: This summer is likely to be hotter than last year’s and is expected to have an early onset. The heatwaves are also expected to be in prolonged spells, impacting people and wildlife.

Keeping this in mind, the Telangana government asked all District Collectors to initiate advance action plans regarding preparedness, response and relief, and mitigation to prevent human causalities due to heatwave.

A review meeting on the subject to be chaired by Chief Secretary SK Joshi is expected to be held on March 3. In a recent letter to the Collectors on making preparations to tackle the expected hot season, RV Chandravadan, Principal Commissioner & EO and principal secretary to the government, said: “This year, it is being scientifically argued that because of the reduced span of winter, heatwaves are expected to have an early onset”.

He also cautioned that the day temperatures had started rising considerably in many parts of the State with the approaching summer. And during the peak of summer — between April and June — even the night temperatures are expected to be high, he said.

Chandravadan said heatwave has emerged as one of the extreme worldwide weather events. In recent years, Telangana also witnessed an increasing trend of severe heatwave conditions during the March-June period. In 2017, the heatwave resulted in illness and loss of 108 human lives in different districts. This year’s goal should be to avoid such deaths, he said.

He said every Collector should prepare a Heat Action Plan (HAP) and communicate the same to the State government. With respect to any unfortunate incidents of deaths due to sunstroke, they should be based on reports of the Tahasildar and not on the basis of newspaper or media reports, which sometimes could be misleading. Any such death reported should be authenticated by the Tahsildar, Medical Officer and the respective Sub-Inspector of police.

He also called on the Collectors to give wide publicity to sunstroke prevention steps and ensure availability of drinking water for people and animals. Vulnerability assessments must be performed by the districts, Chandravadan said. Steps should also be taken to ensure uninterrupted services in critical facilities such as hospitals and local health centres, he added.