Rajasthan is in the grip of a severe heat wave. (Representational)
Rajasthan is in the grip of a severe heat wave. Temperatures in eleven cities, especially in the western region, are hitting the sizzling peak of 47 degrees Celsius. In the capital city Jaipur, mercury was at an eight-year-high of above 46 degrees.
Amid the scalding temperatures, the state has been witnessing an unexplained rise in the number of sudden deaths.
In Kota alone, 21 abandoned bodies were found in the past 48 hours and handed over to an NGO for the last rites.
The government, however, has denied that these deaths are due to heat. There has been only one death officially due to heat stroke, according to the state's health department.
But on the ground, the indications are that the figure is much higher and some deaths are due to comorbid conditions that are aggravated by the unbearable heat wave.
In the last 48 hours, the Karma Yogi Seva Sansthan - an NGO that carries out the last rites of unidentified bodies - has received frantic calls from the local police. As many as 21 bodies, found on footpaths, under bridges, near railway tracks and outside temples and dargahs have been handed over to the NGO for the last rites.
"I have been doing last rites of unidentified bodies for the past 24 years but I have never received so many calls from the police. The heat definitely has something to do with it." said Raja Ram, the president of the Karma Yogi Seva Sansthan.
Of the 21 deaths - mostly vagrants and homeless, only two have been identified. One among the two was Munna Khan who spent his days outside the dargah in Nayapura in Kota. His relatives said he preferred to sleep in the courtyard outside the dargah.
They said he was healthy and appeared to have died of exposure to the severe heat.
However, until a post-mortem doesn't establish the cause of death as heat stroke, it won't be noted in official figures
The district collector of Kota, Ravindra Goswami, said until the postmortem report doesn't establish these deaths as caused by heat stroke it will be premature to make an assumption.
The Rajasthan health department, meanwhile, has asked all hospitals to be prepared for patients coming in with symptoms of heat stroke. Blocks of ice have been placed in specially created wards in hospitals to treat patients who suffer from heat stroke symptoms.
But, state health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar maintains that one person has died due to heat stroke: "People who live on footpaths and besides railway tracks are alcoholics and drug addicts. So, of course, they are vulnerable as are daily wage workers like farm labour and coolies."
But, those who have co-morbid conditions. that can also be aggravated by heat stroke but the official figure of death is only one," he said.
State minister for disaster relief Kirori Lal Meena, on the other hand, maintains that six people could have died due to the "loo (local word for hot winds". "There is no provision to give financial compensation to people who die of heat and cold," he added.
He also met Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma over the issue today and has issued an advisory to districts on precaution.
Suspected heat-related deaths have also been reported from several other areas of the state.
On Sunday, a BSF soldier guarding an outpost on the western border was taken ill suddenly and rushed to a hospital. He died while undergoing treatment. The BSF has not confirmed if his death was due to heat stroke or some other condition.
in Bundi adjoining Kota, where temperatures are in the range of 47 and 48 degrees, five deaths with symptoms of heat stroke have been reported.
A police constable Mahaveer Meena was found dead in the police line quarters. His family says he was healthy and appears to have gone to sleep on Monday night after his duty hours were over. The next day he was found dead. There were prima facie no injury marks on his body.
The body of one Om Prakash Bairwa was found in a forested area. On the family's complaint, a post-mortem to look at heat stroke as a possible cause of death has been done.
A daily wage labourer and a woman who had gone to graze goats and an auto-rickshaw driver were also found dead in Bundi.
The Rajasthan Police are investigating these deaths and medical samples have been sent to check if these were due to heat stroke. So far, 3,965 people who have suffered a heat stroke in Rajasthan and who have reached government hospitals for treatment, as per official records.
India is no stranger to searing summer temperatures. But, years of scientific research have found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.