Telangana, AP asked to implement action plan to prevent heat wave deaths

Hyderabad: The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad on Monday directed both Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh governments to strictly implement their “heat wave action plans” in order to prevent loss of lives. It also expressed its intention to monitor this implementation by not disposing of the public interest litigation case and instead posting it to three weeks later.

The division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice P Naveen Rao gave these directions to the two governments while hearing the PIL filed by journalist Pittala Srisailam. The petitioner brought to the notice of the court how nearly 2,000 persons died due to heat wave conditions in 2015.

These deaths could have been entirely preventable had the two State governments taken simple measures in terms of propagating the dangers, mandating changes in timings of work, providing ORS and drinking water facilities at work places, etc. On the directions of the court, both the governments had prepared action plans on the lines of Odisha and Gujarat states which effectively curbed the heat wave deaths in their states.