Mumbaikars sweat through vicious heat – cover up to protect themselves

Mumbaikars sweat through vicious heat – cover up to protect themselves

While Mumbai sweats through vicious heat, public health experts are sound the alarm over the city’s inadequate preparation for rising heatwaves.

While residents delivery persons, construction workers to postmen, traffic cops and senior citizens in slums, struggle to stay cool, as per experts Mumbai still lacks a city-specific, data-driven Heat Action Plan (HAP) to combat the threat of extreme heat.Dr Dileep Mavalankar, the former director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, and the architect of India’s first HAP in Ahmedabad, emphasised that Mumbai must urgently formulate a comprehensive, long-term strategy tailored to its unique coastal geography and dense urban population.

According to Dr.Mavalankar, there is an urgent need for cities like Mumbai to develop HAPs that are based on local climate, demography, and health data.This includes appointing a dedicated nodal officer to coordinate implementation, creating public awareness campaigns, and issuing regular heat alerts not just on red alert days, but also during orange and yellow alert days.

News Edit KV Raman