HYDERABAD: Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that Telangana recorded 116 heat stroke and sunstroke deaths in 2024. However, the state’s Heatwave Action Plan 2026 places the deaths at just 10 for the same period.
This discrepancy of 106 deaths highlights the lack of a uniform national framework for tracking extreme heat fatalities.
The gap stems from two different tracking methods used by central and state agencies. The NCRB compiles its figures directly from police records. Any death reported to local police and noted as heat-related automatically enters the national database maintained under the Ministry of Home Affairs. In contrast, Telangana’s official count follows a restrictive, multi-layered verification framework.
A senior health department official, speaking to TNIE on the condition of anonymity, explained: “For a death to be formally recognised as heat-related by the state government, medical certification is mandatory. In many cases, a post-mortem examination must confirm heat stroke as the primary cause of death.”
According to the official, deaths occurring outside institutional medical systems often enter police records but may never be formally classified under the state’s heatwave mortality database.
The official explained that if a person collapses due to heat exposure while working outdoors and dies at home, the police may record the death as heatstroke based on field observations.
However, unless the case passes through hospital documentation and subsequent verification by the Disaster Management department, it may not be included in the government’s final heatwave tally.
“Patients admitted to hospitals with confirmed heatstroke and who later succumb are more likely to be officially counted under the state protocol,” the official added.
Public health experts warn that such layered procedures often exclude the most vulnerable sections of society, including agricultural labourers, outdoor workers, elderly residents, homeless populations and people living in informal settlements.
The issue becomes more striking given Telangana’s extensive heat-monitoring infrastructure. According to the Heat Wave Action Plan, prepared by the Revenue (Disaster Management) Department, the state currently operates 1,091 automated weather stations that generate hourly data on temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction.
Heat alerts are disseminated through SMS services, WhatsApp groups, LED display systems and the TS-Weather mobile application managed by the Telangana State Development Planning Society.
The Heatwave Action Plan 2026 identifies 590 out of Telangana’s 612 mandals as vulnerable to heatwave conditions. Several districts have been marked as highly vulnerable for the 2026 summer season, including Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mancherial, Peddapalli, Jagtial, Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar and Mahbubabad.
Despite the state possessing granular climate data, district-wise vulnerability mapping, real-time alert systems and a heatwave mitigation strategy, the officially recognised death toll remains in single digits.
According to experts, without a standardised and medically inclusive system for identifying heat-linked mortality, the true human cost of extreme heat may remain invisible in official records.