Suggestions made by NRDC & IIPH still on paper.
Even as the city reels under soaring temperature, it seems that the ambitious heat action plan of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has gone into cold storage. The civic body has failed to implement most of the recommendations made by the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC) and Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).
A review of some of the recommendations made by the council as part of its heat action plan shows that only a few have been carried out, that too partially, while others have been completely ignored.
At the time of the launch of the plan, AMC had promised to issue regular weather alerts through a text message. The civic body was also supposed to install eight to 10 light emitting diode (LED) monitors at various places in the city to display temperature and issue warnings. However, both the plans have not been implemented so far.
Dr Tejas Shah, nodal officer of Heat Action Plan 2013, said that currently, an LED monitor installed at Law Garden is the only screen to display temperature and issue warnings.
“The remaining eight screens will be installed next summer. The SMS-based alert system has been put on hold till NRDC evaluates the project in August this year,” said Shah.
It should be noted that the NRDC’s recommendations also involved link workers for educational outreach in slum communities and disseminating informational pamphlets. For this, prioritising high-risk areas and conducting educational programmes involving link workers was also planned.
However, negligible work has been done in this direction too as the link workers are on strike and very few report for work.
“Of the total 1,200, only 400 link workers come to work,” said Dr Shah. NRDC also recommended opening night shelters during the day and making public service announcements about heat wave condition escape the heat. But nothing concrete has been done.
When asked, Shah said that the recommendation for opening night shelters during the day was to be implemented only when temperature in the city crossed 45 degrees Celsius. “We will then open the night shelters during the day and announcements will be made for the public,” said Dr Shah.
Meanwhile, the proposal of white-washing the roof tops of government buildings has been scrapped for now as the civic body found it quite expensive.
Another recommendation was to sensitise builders about labourers working at their construction site, who often become victims of heat stroke. AMC has already conducted meetings with the builders’ association. Builders have been asked to provide shelter and drinking water to construction workers.
However, implementation and monitoring still remains a concern. The civic body has clarified that it will not monitor as their job is to educate and not to impose orders on builders.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}