Delhi heatwave: 192 homeless people die in a week

Published June 22, 2024 · Updated June 21, 2024

A person drinks water as others rest under the shade of trees as the city continues in the grip of a heatwave, in New Delhi on Thursday.

News Desk :
As many as 192 homeless people died in Delhi due to a heatwave between June 11 and June 19, as per data released by a non-profit organisation (NGO), Centre For Holistic Development (CHD), on Wednesday. The report claimed that 80 per cent of the unidentified bodies were of the homeless.
According to the data, this was the highest number of deaths recorded in the said period since 2019. It said the data was collected from the Zonal Integrated Police Network and the Ministry of Home Affairs, reports Mint.
While sharing the data, the NGO appealed to the government to introduce the Summer Action Plan at the state and district levels. An official from the organisation suggested making city-wise plans in states impacted by heat waves. He also said the situation could be considered as a disaster.
Delhi and other parts of North India have been witnessing severe heatwave conditions for the past few months. The scorching heat has resulted in heat stroke casualties, prompting the Centre to issue an advisory to hospitals to set up special units to cater to such patients.
Police were quoted by news agency PTI on Wednesday that during the past three days, the bodies of 50 people evidently belonging to underprivileged backgrounds were recovered around Delhi.
Meanwhile, sources from the Union health ministry said the heatwave in large parts of the country claimed 114 lives and more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases were reported between March 1 and June 19 this year.
“This data isn’t a final submission from all the states and numbers are expected to be more than this,” sources told PTI.
The maximum number of deaths are reported from Uttar Pradesh (37), Bihar (17), Rajasthan (16), and Odisha (13). This is the data compiled under the National Heat-Related Illness and Death Surveillance by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), PTI reported.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda directed the health ministry to issue an advisory for state health departments on ‘Heat Wave Season 2024’.