Killer heatwave

ORGANISING a major public event in the scorching heat is nothing but an invitation to disaster. And that’s exactly what happened in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar on Sunday during a function at which the Maharashtra Bhushan, the state’s highest civilian award, was conferred on social worker Appasaheb Dharmadhikari by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Heatstroke claimed 13 lives at the event that was also attended by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis. The state government needs to answer the obvious questions: Why was the function, originally scheduled to start at 5 pm, advanced by about six hours? Why were proper arrangements for drinking water and marquees/tents not made even though lakhs of people were expected to be present amid sweltering weather conditions?

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The CM has announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased and free of cost medical treatment of the surviving victims, but this doesn’t hide the fact that the tragedy was caused by negligence. An in-depth probe should be conducted to zero in on the officials and politicians responsible for the grave lapses.

With a heatwave sweeping some parts of the country, the Centre should be proactive in discouraging states and union territories from holding large gatherings where dehydration and heatstroke/sunstroke can wreak havoc. Warnings released by the Meteorological Department should be taken seriously by all stakeholders. It’s laudable that Odisha has initiated a slew of steps to tackle the stifling heat: the transport department has been directed to reschedule timings so that buses don’t ply during the ‘peak hours’ of the heatwave; orders have been issued to earmark separate wards/beds for heatstroke patients; employers have been told to make arrangements for drinking water, ORS packets and a rest shed for workers. Such thoughtful measures are worthy of emulation, along with a review of the power situation in anticipation of a surge in demand. At the same time, there is a dire need to learn lessons from the Maharashtra incident. The most important one is to disallow outdoor functions in case of an adverse weather forecast.