As the heatwave sweeps across the country claiming as many as 160 deaths in the south and the east, officials have warned the monsoon rains are far from near. Y K Reddy, state meteorological official said the temperatures were about 4-5 degrees Celsius hotter than normal for April. “Normally such high temperatures are recorded in the month of May,” he said.
The Police have reported 55 heat-related deaths in Orissa and at least 45 in Andhra Pradesh. The worst hit still remains Telangana, with as many as 66 reports. Most of the heat-wave victims were labourers and farmers. Orissa state government closed schools until at least April 26. Officials in Andhra Pradesh were seen giving out free water and buttermilk to help people.
As people struggle to cope with the rising mercury, matters have become worse in India with severe water shortages and drought affecting more than 300 million people. Distressing farmers are resorting to committing suicides as their crops perished and water sources dried up. A heat-related incident reported in drought-stricken Maharashtra also reported the death of a 12 year old girl who died while fetching water. In a measure to deal with the crisis, officials sent water tankers to the farming communities in the state, banning people from drilling deep wells. The farmer community was also ordered to shift away from growing water-guzzling sugarcane crops.
Meanwhile, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that around 33 Crore people currently lie in the grip of a drought and face drinking water shortage and agricultural distress. It said it was releasing money to the affected states from its disaster fund to face the crisis. Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha said Rs 7321 Crore was released on Monday under the MGNREGS in addition to Rs 12,230 Crore released earlier this month. He added that more than 21 lakh households were granted more than 100 days of employment under the rural job scheme in these states. It however, missed out on mentioning Gujarat where more than 637 villages face severe water shortage.
The statement came in lieu of the hearing of a petition filed by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan that had contended that 12 states- Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, and Chattisgarh, face severe drought conditions and the state governments were not implementing proper social welfare laws like MGNREGA, Food Security Act, etc.
High temperatures have been recorded across the world as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said March's average global temperature of 12.7 degrees Celsius was not only the hottest March, but continues a record 11-month streak that started last May.
