Cabinet Secy Reviews Action Plan To Deal With Heatwave And Forest Fire As Temperature Continues Hovering Over 45°C

(MENAFN- Live Mint) "New Delhi: Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to review preparedness to deal with heatwaves and forest fires as temperatures continued hovering over 45°C across the country comes in the backdrop of sweltering heat causing forest fires risesHeatwavea have been scorching the country since the middle of April beginning with eastern and southern parts and gradually spreading to northwest and central India. The temperature has been averaging in the range of 45-47°C to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on Wednesday, heat wave continued to slap some parts of southern Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and in isolated pockets of Haryana, north Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan. Heatwave conditions have been prevailing over Haryana since 17 May and over Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh since 18 May temperatures on Wednesday were in the range of 43-46°C -- 2-4°C above normal -- in many parts of Haryana, Delhi and at isolated pockets of north Rajasthan, northwest Madhya Pradesh and southern parts of Uttar Pradesh. Fatehpur in east Uttar Pradesh reported the highest maximum temperature of 2°C Read: How India is managing power demand amid the brutal heatwaveIn the meeting chaired by Gauba, IMD informed that 10-22 above-normal heatwave days were observed in different parts of the country between April to June per forecast for June, above-normal heatwave days are likely over most areas of northwest India and neighboring areas of north central India. However, the situation is expected to improve in anticipation of normal to above normal monsoon in most parts of the country this year with forest firesTo deal with heat wave and forest fire, NDMA has already issued advisories to states to activate Control Rooms, enforce SoPs for heatwaves, ensure drinking water availability, preparedness of health facilities including availability of essential medicines and ORS and uninterrupted power supply. It has also advised states to conduct fire safety audits of schools, hospitals and other institutions regularly and reduce response time in incidents of fire. State governments informed that the situation is being reviewed and monitored closely with relevant departments and District Collectors, according to an official statement Cabinet Secretary requested the Chief Secretaries to regularly review and monitor the short-, medium- and long-term measures to ramp up preparedness to deal with heatwaves. He emphasized that efforts to maintain and augment sources of water supply should be stepped up and fire safety audit of all institutions be ensured Read | 'What goes around comes around': SC on Uttarakhand forest fireRegular forest fire alerts are being disseminated through mobile SMS and emails. A forest fire alert system portal named VAN AGNI, which provides pre-fire and near-real-time forest fire alerts, has also been developed by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to assist the states and other agencies, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed, the weather office on Thursday forecast that heat wave in isolated pockets over parts of east India, Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh will continue until Monday. In contrast, rainfall or thunderstorm may continue over northwest India while intensity of rainfall is likely to increase Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka as southwest monsoon progresses further.“Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Karnataka & coastal Andhra Pradesh, some more parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Telangana, some parts of south Chhattisgarh & South Odisha, remaining parts of westcentral & more parts of northwest Bay of Bengal for the next 3-4 days,” the weather office said on Thursday of monsoonIMD on 31 May declared the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala, one day before its typical date, attributing it to Cyclone Remal formed in the Bay of Bengal arrival of the southwest monsoon is crucial for India's agricultural sector. Indian farms heavily rely on monsoon rainfall-with as much as 56% of the net cultivated area and 44% of food production depending upon the rain. Normal rainfall leads to robust crop production, keeps a lid on food prices, especially vegetables, and bolsters growth. Agriculture accounts for about 14% of the country's gross domestic product Read: Mint Quick Edit | Will heat deliver a torrential monsoon this year?June and July are pivotal months for agriculture, with most kharif crop sowing occurring during this period. The current presence of El Nino conditions, which typically result in weaker monsoon winds and drier conditions, is being closely monitored by scientists. Conversely, the potential development of La Nina by August-September could lead to abundant rainfall during the monsoon season monsoon hitting Kerala a week ago and Bengaluru receiving the highest rainfall in a single day, breaking the 133-year-old record on Sunday, water levels in India's 150 major reservoirs shrank further to 22% and stood at 39.765 billion cubic metres (BCM) as of Thursday, including 7.114 BCM water (13% of total live storage capacity) currently being available in 42 reservoirs in southern India, as per the latest bulletin issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC).

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