NEW DELHI: With several parts of the country reeling under a heatwave, a meeting was held in the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday to plan exigencies to deal with the unprecedented situation.The meeting chaired by P K Mishra, the principal secretary to PM, was attended by secretaries from departments, including agriculture, power and railways to discuss the impact on various sectors of the economy. The stakeholders discussed strategies to tackle the situation, as several areas in central and northern India have recorded temperature way above normal. The months of March and April have recorded highest temperature in the last 122 years.
Taking into account the wilting heat in large expanse of the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had earlier issued an advisory to chief secretaries of states, directing them to publicise the guidelines under the “National Action Plan on Heat-Related Illnesses” down to the district level. “States should sensitise all health staff on early recognition and management of heat illness,” he wrote.But there were some good news on Monday as the weather office announced that the worse is over for now, courtesy the western disturbance that is approaching the mainland.IMD senior scientist RK Jenamani informed that the heatwave is now over in most parts of India including Delhi and issued a yellow alert for thunderstorms for Northwest India over western disturbance. “Heatwave is over in most parts of India including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and UP. Western disturbance is quite active,” the senior scientist said.