New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): With the heatwave continuing to affect the national capital, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, along with Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, on Tuesday reviewed the implementation of the heatwave action plan and the further course of action during a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

According to a press release, the meeting was held on Monday and was attended by Ministers Ashish Sood and Parvesh Verma, along with the Chief Secretary, Police Commissioner, MCD Commissioner, NDMC Chairperson, Vice Chairperson of DDA, and heads of all concerned departments. It was noted that, for the first time following the Prime Minister's call last year, Delhi had implemented a large-scale, coordinated heat-relief plan across all 13 districts to protect citizens from extreme temperatures.

While appreciating the relief measures undertaken so far and the outcomes achieved on the ground, the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister observed that given Delhi's large population spread across 13 districts, the deployment of only one mobile relief van per district may not be sufficient. They directed departments to focus on scaling up capacity and strengthening the overall response mechanism.

The LG also explicitly highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's direction to focus on long-term urban cooling to create lasting relief solutions for the capital to combat the 'Urban Heat Island' effect.

It was also directed that the number of Mobile Relief Vans as well as Cooling Centres be increased as per requirement and be deployed/erected in areas, which had a heavier presence of vendors and labour, homeless, people on the streets for livelihood reasons and in markets with heavy footfall, the release said.

CM Rekha Gupta directed officials to ensure extra caution during employee shift changes at cooling centres so that public service remains uninterrupted. She emphasised that all water pots, coolers, and containers must be refilled immediately so that no citizen finds them empty at any point.

The release further said that the LG emphasised that the massive heat-relief effort must continue as a fully coordinated operation spanning the Revenue Department, Transport and DTC, DDA, Labour Department and other agencies.

The LG made it clear that citizens are only interested in seeing actual work happening on the ground and do not care about jurisdictional divides between different departments or authorities. He directed all agencies to work seamlessly as a single team with the sole objective of serving the public and delivering immediate relief.

The release stated that the meeting also highlighted key achievements across the city, including providing free water, shade, and medical relief directly on the streets

It is informed that the Mobile Relief Units successfully served 4,73,358 beneficiaries, distributing 1,86,413 litres of water, 2,44,002 ORS packets, 67,593 free cotton towels (gamchhas), and 49,666 protective caps across the city. At the major fixed cooling zones, the North East site at GTB Hospital Gate 3 served 62,900 people and distributed 47,975 litres of water, while Old Delhi's Jama Masjid Metro Gate 3 served 35,470 people with 30,800 litres of water.

In addition, the Central North zone at Shalimar Chowk has served 20,100 citizens with 7,066 litres of water, while the South-East zone near Kalkaji/Lotus Temple has provided 3,000 litres of water to 7,900 people, it added.

The Labour Department has also implemented strict safety protocols across all 13 districts, with senior officials conducting on-site inspections at construction sites to brief employers and contractors on worker safety measures.

Further, 15 DDA Sports Complexes have been equipped with functional water coolers and RO systems, while plans are underway to install water ATMs across public parks in the coming phase, the release added. (ANI)