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Cabinet secretary chairs meet to tackle forest fires, heatwave
HT reported on May 1 that temperatures in eastern and peninsular India have smashed records this April, exposing people to extreme humid heat for weeks
Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to review the measures to deal with heatwave conditions and forest fires, amid soaring temperatures in many parts and raging forest fires caused by an intense dry spell in the hills.
A statement issued by the cabinet secretariat said that at the meeting, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) made detailed presentations on the current heatwave and forest fires, including on steps taken to deal with them.
The NDMA said a series of preparatory meetings were held since October, and advisories were issued to states to activate control rooms, enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) on heatwave, ensure availability of drinking water, preparedness of health facilities and uninterrupted power supply. States were also advised to conduct fire safety audits of schools, hospitals and other institutions regularly and reduce response time in incidents of fire, the statement said.
Officials in the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that 10-22 above normal heatwave days were observed in different parts of the country between April and June. The officials also said that as per forecast for the month of June, above-normal heatwave days are likely over most areas of Northwest India and neighboring areas from north central India, the statement said.
The meeting was also attended by chief secretaries and senior officials of several states, who were asked by Gauba to regularly review and monitor the short, medium and long term measures to ramp up preparedness to deal with heatwaves.
On forest fire management, MoEFCC made a presentation, outlining the action plan and preparedness to deal with forest fires in some parts of the country. “It was informed that regular forest fire alerts are being disseminated through mobile SMS and emails. A Forest Fire Alert System portal named VAN AGNI, which provides pre-fire and near real time forest fire alerts, has also been developed by Forest Survey of India (FSI) to assist the states and other agencies,” the statement said.
"Maximum temperatures were unusually high in April and May. Now, the monsoon has set in. Only parts of northwest India continue to express high heat," a meteorologist said.
At least 100 people have died of suspected heat stress and related issues across the country, according to officials aware of the details.
HT reported on May 1 that temperatures in eastern and peninsular India have smashed records this April, exposing people to extreme humid heat for weeks together amid polling for the 2024 general elections. The harrowing heat in the month across large parts of the country was brought on in part due to the climate crisis, scientists said. It was the warmest April in eastern and northeastern India in terms of night temperatures since records began in 1901 and the third warmest in mean temperatures.
