TIRUCHY: Even as the mercury level in several parts of the state hovered around 40 degree Celsius over the past few days, the Met department allayed fears of an imminent heatwave threat for Tamil Nadu. Activists, however, decry the state government’s lack of preparedness in the event of a heatwave.
According to the Heat Wave Action Plan - 2019 formulated by the state government, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in every district has to take various preparatory measures with heatwave alerts. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) defines a heatwave as a situation when the normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40 degree Celsius in the plains and above 30 degree Celsius in hilly regions, and when the maximum temperature remains higher than usual by three degrees for three consecutive days.
In this situation, places like Erode, Tiruchy, Karur and Vellore recorded temperatures one to four degree Celsius above normal over the past few days, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai. Tiruchy City recorded 40.1 degree Celsius, 40.3 degree Celsius and 40 degree Celsius on Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively. Mild showers on Sunday brought down the maximum temperature to 39.9 degree Celsius.
While the Heat Wave Action Plan of 2019 lists out short-, medium- and long-term measures, including educating the most vulnerable sections of the society like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers, rescheduling work hours to escape intense heat, building temporary shelters and increasing green cover, an official with the Tiruchy unit of the disaster management authority said that no such preventive steps have been taken at the district level.
No such directions were received from the state-level disaster management authority, the official reasoned. When enquired, an SDMA official expressed ignorance of such measures but added, "We have via the media circulated a release on measures that should be taken by the public to tackle the searing heat." Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary to the government, department of Environment, climate change and Forests, told TNIE that long-term measures like increasing the green cover were carried out by her department and that it was being monitored every month to determine its role in tackling heatwaves.
G Sundarrajan, the coordinator of Poovulagin Nanbargal and member of the Tamil Nadu Governing Council on Climate Change, said, "As the current year could witness El Nino phenomenon and as many districts over the past one week have recorded temperatures 2 to 4 degree Celsius above normal, immediate action is required from the state government." We have appealed to every legislative and parliamentarian in the state to coordinate health and disaster management departments so as to formulate plans to face the intense heat, he added.