Hyderabad

Asmany as 16 people died due to heatwave conditions prevailing in the State during the current summer, informed Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy here on Saturday

The Minister who held a meeting with officials on the situation arising out of the heatwave, said the 16 deaths took place in seven districts of the State. Quoting reports received from district Collectors, he said four persons died in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, followed by three each in Warangal Urban, Karimnagar and Nizamabad and one each in Jogulamba Gadwal, Ranga Reddy and Suryapet.

The government would provide an ex-gratia of Rs four lakh each to the kin of the deceased persons, he said, according to an official release. The revenue minister directed officials to identify villages recording very high temperatures and send alerts about the heat through media, social media and other means to those villages. He said drinking water, butter milk, ORS packets should be made available at bus stations, markets, major roads and places where workers work in large numbers. Steps should be taken to prevent loss of life due to the heat, he said.

The minister urged that senior citizens, pregnant women, children and unhealthy people should not venture out of their homes between 11 am and 4 pm. He instructed district Collectors to specially monitor heatwave conditions and government employees from mandal to village level should be on the field as part of heat-relief measures. Along with human life, the administration should arrange drinking water for animals and birds in the villages, he said. Citing reports from the Met department, Reddy said Karimnagar, Peddpally, Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Khammam, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahabubnagar, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district would witness severe heat conditions till May 26. He urged the district Collectors to take measures to provide relief to the people.