Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Naidu seeks Central aid for sunstroke victims

By Dasu Kesava Rao

HYDERABAD June 3. In a rather belated acknowledgment of the magnitude of the sunstroke deaths — the latest toll being 1065 — the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has sought the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's intervention for generous Central assistance for the kin of the victims.

Mr. Naidu wrote to the Prime Minister today seeking sanction of Rs. 50,000 each for the families of the dead under the Calamity Relief Fund.

Andhra Pradesh, accounting for nine of every 10 sunstroke deaths in the country, is a veritable inferno today with the severe heat wave continuing unabated and the onset of southwest monsoon still uncertain. Most parts of the State are reeling under a blistering sun and accompanying hot winds since early May, the mercury staying close to 45Celsius while it shot up to a searing 50C plus in the coal mining town of Kothagudem, where workers are demanding "lay off with pay".

For several days, local newspapers reported Kothagudem as registering 50C and even 52C on Sunday. Nagarjunasagar also peaked at 52C scaring away tourists. Even the "cool" Arogyavaram near Horsley Hills recorded 40 degrees this season. The Met office, however, disputes claims of 50C or more. According to the official figure, the highest-ever day temperature recorded in the State was 49.2C at Hanamkonda on June 8, 1993. On Tuesday also, Hanamkonda topped with 48C.

Five coastal districts — West Godavari (175), East Godavari (152), Guntur (138), Prakasam (98) and Krishna (66) — accounted for 529 deaths while Nalgonda topped with 192. (Reports said the death roll in Nalgonda jumped to 225 by evening and in West Godavari from 130 to 175).

The Government is, for the first time, giving the official figure of the dead. Last year also, it was stated that the death toll from the heat wave was around 1,000. Inputs from Nalgonda show that 90 per cent of the victims belong to the BPL families, mostly the old and the infirm abandoned by the younger members migrating to other places. The plight of animals and poultry is worse on account of severe drinking water and fodder shortage. Reports from Khammam district spoke of gardens being littered with hundreds of dead bats and the Kothagudem-Bhadrachalam road dotted with carcasses.

By its own admission, the Government is unable to extend relief under its "Apathbandhu" scheme because insurance companies treat sunstroke as disease and not "death due to accident".

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