Tamil Nadu declares heat waves a state-specific disaster, announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia for deaths
This would allow the government to dispense relief to those who suffered health problems due to extreme heat in April and May.
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The Tamil Nadu government has declared heat waves a state-specific disaster, allowing it to provide immediate relief to those who suffered health problems due to severe heat in April and May, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.
The government can use the State Disaster Response Fund for this purpose. It was previously unable to do this because heat waves are not considered natural calamities in the list of disasters notified by the Centre.
The Tamil Nadu government also announced that the families of individuals who died of heat-related causes will be given ex-gratia payments of Rs 4 lakh each, The New Indian Express reported.
The state government’s order noted that in April and May, the cities of Chennai, Madurai and Thoothukudi witnessed extremely high temperatures due to the urban heat island effect.
The phenomenon refers to the relative warmth of a city as compared to its surrounding rural areas due to the presence of heat-absorbing concrete, vehicular emissions and air conditioners.
This summer, the districts in Tamil Nadu with the highest number of days when the maximum daytime temperature exceeded 40 degrees were Erode (31 days), Karur (26 days), Tirupattur (21 days), Dharmapuri (20 days) and Vellore (23 days).
Centre’s stand on heat waves
In July, Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh told Parliament that heatwaves were not considered a...
