PM chairs review meet on heatwave, monsoon
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised states and Union territories to prepare action plans at each administrative level – state, city and district – to deal with the persisting high temperatures across the country, said a release from his office (PMO) on Thursday.
At a meeting, officials of India Meteorological Department (IMD) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) briefed the PM about the temperatures in March-may, 2022, across the country and preparations for the monsoon, said the statement.
“In view of the rising temperatures, regular hospital fire safety audits need to be done. PM spoke about the need to work to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance the capabilities of forest personnel and institutions for timely detection of a possible fire and for fighting fires, and to speed up recovery after a fire event,” it added.
To be prepared for the upcoming monsoon, which usually begins on June 1, all states have been advised to prepare flood preparedness plans and undertake appropriate measures. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been advised to develop a deployment plan in flood-affected states, it said. Among those who attended the meeting were the PM’S principal secretary and advisors, the cabinet secretary as well as secretaries of the ministries of home, health and jal shakti and chiefs of the IMD, NDMA and NDRF.
The heatwave spell over India began in March and recurred in four spells — March 11 to 19, March 27 to April 12, April 17 to 19 and April 26 to 30.
In April, several parts of northwest India recorded temperatures above 45°C. Around 14 stations in different parts of the country reported record high
Chandrapur temperatures. India, on an average, recorded its warmest March days in 122 years with the maximum temperature clocking in at 1.86°C above normal, an analysis by IMD had shown. Northwest and central India have experienced the hottest April this season in 122 years.
Surface land temperatures exceeded 60°C over some parts of northwest India, according to imagery captured by INSAT 3D, Copernicus Sentinel 3 and a NASA satellite on April 29 (Saturday). The finding raised concerns among several scientists about the severe impacts of the heatwave.
On Thursday, the World Meteorological Organization tweeted: “The globe just had the 6th warmest April on record, according to @Copernicusecmwf. Much above-average temperatures from North-eastern Africa across Middle East to central and southern Asia, and especially in #Pakistan and northern #India. #Climatechange.” The Copernicus Project, an earth observation programme run by the European Union, said pre-monsoon temperatures were exceptionally high over Pakistan and northern India in March.