Expressing concern about the heat wave conditions prevailing in Odisha, the Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) criticised the State Government’s heat wave management efforts.
Notably, Bhubaneswar at 45.8 degree Celsius on April 11 has already recorded the highest ever temperature in history. Many districts of the State have crossed the 40 degree mark in first week of April itself. As many as 19 people have already died due to heat wave.
WIO convenor Ranjan Panda said that like previous years, the Government has been refusing to accept that these deaths are caused by heat wave conditions. This is an utter failure of the heat wave management efforts of the Odisha Government, alleged Panda.
last year by end of May, 108 people died of sun stroke. However, the Government only confirmed 21 deaths caused by sunstroke. In many cases, only because a post mortem was not conducted, victims were denied the compensation. This is a failure of the system and must be rectified, demanded Panda.
The Government must immediately simplify the rules of assessing heat wave deaths and make it transparent. The State also needs a strict mechanism to make officials accountable in this process and each case of heat wave death be dealt with sensitivity, urged Panda further.
Panda also urged upon the Government to increase the heat wave death compensation amount to at least `5 lakh. Currently, the compenstaion amount for sun stroke death is a meagre `50,000.