Sunstroke recognised as state disaster in Telangana; Rs 4 lakh aid for victims’ families

Hyderabad: The Telangana State government will pay Rs 4 lakh compensation to victims of heat stroke. The government has also decided to declare heatwave/sunstroke as a ‘State-Specific Disaster.’

Orders to this effect were released by special chief secretary Arvind Kumar on Tuesday. From now on, relief to the families of the victims of heat wave/sunstrokes will be in the way of ex-gratia/relief by the assistance norms.

Telangana witnessed month-long heat waves in some districts

As per the GO, in Telangana, during 2024, except for five districts, all the remaining 28 districts had at least 15 days of heatwaves, with Nalgonda, Mancherial, Peddapalli and Jagtial having more than 30 days of heatwaves. In addition, the debilitating effect of heat waves is further exacerbated in urban areas due to the urban heat island impact and wet bulb impact (combining heat and humidity).

People, especially the construction workers and daily wage earners in Hyderabad, Warangal, all the municipal corporations, Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) and all the urban local bodies are vulnerable to heatwaves and sunstrokes. In the absence of a specific ex-gratia, the State, until now, was providing assistance of Rs 50,000 only under Apathbandhu scheme to the family of the deceased who’ve died due to heatwave/sunstroke.

The people getting affected due to heatwave/sunstroke are mainly those who work outside at peak summer or from the vulnerable group such as old aged and the current amount is not considered sufficient. Accordingly, it is felt necessary to notify the heatwaves condition as a state-specific disaster.

Hidden hazard

As per the GO, heat waves remain a ‘hidden hazard’ whose impact is under-recognised due to measurement and valuation challenges. There is under-reporting of deaths and severe impact of heat waves, especially in the vulnerable section of the population, including old aged, women, children and farmers and workers, especially those in the construction sector who are exposed to heatwaves directly.

While storms, floods and earthquakes destroy physical assets such as houses, factories, roads and hospitals whose replacement cost can be quantified quickly, heatwaves harm human bodies,s and because of the difficulty or lack of well-defined norms, the mortality related to heatwaves is known to be significantly under-counted.

Official recognition of the dangers of heat waves can help streamline relief

All districts in Telangana have prepared a district-specific heat wave action plan and have equipped vulnerable points with ORS packets, drinking water kiosks and are issuing required advisories on dos and don’ts. However, it is felt that in the absence of a notification declaring the heatwave as a disaster, the required sufficient relief in terms of ex-gratia to the family of a person dying due to heatwave/sunstroke could not be provided, the GO said.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has informed that during April to June (AMJ) hot weather season in 2025 will have an above-normal number of heatwave days, likely over most parts of the north and east peninsula, central India, east India and plains of northwest India.

As per the GO, above-normal heatwave days are expected over Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and northern parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.