'Respond on Strategies to Tackle Intense Heat': What the National Green Tribunal Told Union Ministries, State Govts

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal, India’s apex green court, took suo motu cognisance of the intense heatwaves sweeping across India and asked several union government ministries and state governments to respond on the short- and long-term actions being taken to deal with the heat.

On May 25, the Tribunal registered a suo motu case on the basis of a news report on the impacts of the heatwave across the country by the Times of India dated May 22. Rising temperatures are severely impacting public health, agriculture, water availability, productivity, wildlife, and the overall economy. Temperatures have reached as high as 48°C in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, while Delhi and several other regions continue to remain under severe heatwave conditions.

These issues highlighted in the news article indicate a violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, a Bench of the NGT comprising Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson of the NGT, and expert member Afroz Ahmad, said.

“The news item raises substantial issues relating to compliance with the environmental norms and implementation of the provisions of scheduled enactment,” it noted.

The issue of heatwaves across India “is very serious” because it relates to both climate change and anthropogenic activities, the NGT said. A “proper adaptation strategy” is the need of the hour, it added. 

“To have a short-term and long-term adaptation strategy to address the increasing temperature due to climatic conditions and anthropogenic activities during summer months, response from the States and its authorities is required,” the NGT order read.

The Tribunal has impleaded several union ministries and state governments, and asked them to respond on this matter by August 12. These include the union environment ministry, the Ministry for Earth Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Central Pollution Control Board.

The chief secretaries of the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have also been impleaded in the case.

The NGT will now hear the case on August 19.

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