Millions at risk as India's heat wave exposes cooling gaps

NOIDA, India－As the scorching sun beat down on his fruit cart, Mohammad Ikrar dreaded another day of tossing out dozens of rotting mangoes and melons－a regular practice now as India grapples with an unprecedented heat wave.

The 38-year-old does not own a refrigerator, meaning his fruit will quickly spoil. By the end of the day, any leftover produce is usually only good to be fed to passing stray cows.

Since April, Ikrar has lost up to 3,000 rupees ($39) a week－nearly half of his average weekly earnings.

"This heat is torturous. But if I want to buy an AC (air conditioner) or fridge one day, I have to do this," said Ikrar, wearing a full sleeve shirt and white head wrap to keep cool in the 44 C heat.

At home, Ikrar and his family suffer hourslong power cuts day and night, rendering the ceiling fan useless in their one-room house in New Delhi's satellite city of Noida.

He sends all three of his children to a school fitted with air coolers for "respite" from the heat.

"I sweat all day, then sweat all night. There is no way to properly cool off. I haven't experienced anything like this since I moved here eight years ago," he said.

Ikrar provides a snapshot of the threat Indians face from a lack of access to cooling amid widespread blackouts.

Almost 323 million people across the country are at high risk from extreme heat and a lack of cooling mechanisms such as fans and refrigerators, according to a report released on Tuesday by Sustainable Energy for All, or SE4ALL, a United Nations-backed organization.

Temperatures in Delhi soared above 49 C in some regions last week after India recorded its hottest March in 122 years and an unusually hot April. Temperatures are expected to cool as monsoon rains arrive in June.

High demand

India's electricity demand has hit a record high with a surge in the use of air conditioning, triggering the worst power crisis in more than six years, Reuters reported.

But, like Ikrar, not everyone can beat the heat.

Though nearly all households in India have access to electricity, only a fraction of its 1.4 billion population own any cooling appliances, the SE4ALL said.

As demand for cooling will soar in coming years, it will also add pressure to India's overstretched electricity systems and lead to a potential increase in planet-warming emissions, said Brian Dean, head of energy efficiency and cooling at SE4ALL.

" (This) in turn further exacerbates the risk of longer and more extreme heat waves," he said.

Scientists have linked the early onset of an intense summer to climate change, saying more than a billion people in India and neighboring Pakistan are in some way at risk from the extreme heat.

In India, government data showed at least 25 people have died from heat stroke since late March.

The official number is just "the tip of the iceberg", said Dileep Mavalankar, head of the Indian Institute of Public Health, a private university in Gandhinagar in the western state of Gujarat.

Agencies Via Xinhua