The Supreme Court has asked the central government to explain what steps it is taking to handle heatwave conditions in the country. This came after a petition was filed, saying that more than 700 people had died due to heatwaves in India last year.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih sent a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and others. The court gave them two weeks to respond.

The petition was filed by environmental activist Vikrant Tongad. He asked the court to order the government to follow the national guidelines that were created to manage heatwave situations. He also said there should be systems to forecast heatwaves, send alerts, and set up 24/7 helplines.

Advocate Akash Vashishtha, who spoke for Tongad, told the court that “more than 700 deaths were reported due to heatwave and heat stress last year.” He also said that heat stress is expected to become worse and lead to even more deaths in the future.

Heatwaves spreading to more areas in India

The petition also said that heatwaves are no longer only found in a few regions. “Earlier, heatwaves were predominant in three regions, including northwest and central India, but now they have spread to the east coast, east, northeast, peninsular, southern, and south-central regions, and this has been stated by an IMD report itself,” said Vashishtha.

The plea also said that even though the NDMA made guidelines in 2019 to help states prepare for heatwaves, many states and union territories have still not followed them.

It also pointed out that the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, make it the government’s responsibility to act during such environmental crises.

The petition connected the rising heat waves to climate change and asked the government to give money to people who got sick from the heat and provide financial support to poor and vulnerable people during extremely hot days.

It also referred to a government study titled "Heat and Cold Waves in India: Processes and Predictability", which said that the risk of heatwaves in India could increase ten times this century. It added that “more than 70 per cent of the land area in the country is expected to be affected by heatwaves” and warned about more deaths from extreme heat in the future.

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