Navi Mumbai where 12 people died due to sunstroke has no IMD observatory

Navi Mumbai the city where 12 people died due to sunstroke after attending an award function has no observatory of the India Meteorological Department IMD on the basis of which local weather alerts can be issuedOn the Maharashtra governments request the IMD had forecast that the temperature in Kharghar area of Navi Mumbai where the function was held on Sunday could reach 3435 degrees Celsius based on the data from its Santacruz observatory in neighbouring Mumbai located 35 km away MeT officials saidHowever on ground the temperature rose to 38 degrees CelsiusThe temperature was recorded by the nearest observatory in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC in Rabale area of Navi Mumbai The observatory is operated by the ThaneBelapur Industrial AssociationIMD scientist Sushma Nair told PTI that the observatory was revived in 2017 due to which enough observations are not there to calculate normalsIf we do not have any observatory near a venue where an event is to take place our protocol is we issue forecast on the basis of the nearest observatory In this case it was the Santacruz observatory Nair saidAlso readIn Photos Mumbai witnesses hot weather temperature rises to 33 degrees CelsiusUnlike Mumbai its satellite cities do not have a robust meteorological infrastructureIn Mumbai the civic body has its own mechanism apart from the IMD to get weather dataThe Maharashtra governments culture department had sought weatherrelated information from the IMD ahead of the function in Kharghar to confer the Maharashtra Bhushan award on social reformer Appasaheb Dharmadhikari which was provided to it on April 12The event was attended by lakhs of Dharmadhikaris followers sitting under the scorching sunChief Minister Eknath Shindes son and Lok Sabha member Shrikant Shinde was also seen attending the event in the sweltering heat with a handkerchief to cover his headUnion Home Minister Amit Shah CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were present at the award functionWe had forecast that the maximum temperature in Kharghar based on the observatory in Santacruz will be 3435 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature will be 2425 degrees Celsius The maximum humidity was predicted to be 6575 per cent and minimum at 5565 per cent Nair saidThe IMD does not have any weather station in that Navi Mumbai belt to take the recording The nearest observatory is at Rabale Nair addedOn Sunday the Santacruz observatory recorded 35 degrees Celsius which was 15 degrees Celsius above normalShe said based on the data available with the Santacruz office there were no indication of a heatwaveThe IMD declares a heatwave when the temperature is 45 degrees Celsius above normal she said While some places in Mumbai recorded slightly above normal temperature on Sunday Marathwada and south central Maharashtra had recorded below normal temperature she addedDileep Mavlankar Director of the Gandhinagarbased Indian Institute of Public Health said chances of having a sunstroke do not need the heatwave alone but high temperature high humidity and direct contact with sunlight can also contribute to a sunstroke especially in coastal areasElderly citizens are more vulnerable to sunstroke because of the comorbidities he saidMavlankar who was instrumental in developing a heat action plan for Ahmedabad in Gujarat said the heat index in India is also not provided when weather alerts are issuedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever