Heat Wave Action Plans On Paper, Evidence Shows Kids Ignored
There also appears to be some confusion on just how many anganwadis are there in the state
HYDERABAD: Despite multiple iterations of a state-level heatwave action plan over the years, the Telangana government appears to have learnt no lessons on what needs to be done to be in a state of readiness to tackle extreme heat days. And bureaucrats, vested with the responsibility of preparing the so-called ‘action plans’, appear to be content doing a cut-paste job, lifting text from one year’s heatwave action plan to the next, without as much as lifting a finger to actually implement the steps required to mitigate heat related concerns of the public.
For instance, the Heatwave Action Plans (HAP) from 2021, 2024, and the latest one released last week, the 2026 HAP ‘edition’, speak with great concern for children, especially those from the vulnerable sections of society who go to anganwadi centres (AWCs) and mini-anganwadi centres.
The HAPs themselves tell a different story.
In 2021, the then action plan expressed concern over how “31,897 Main AWCs and 4,076 Mini Anganwadi Centres in Telangana State are vulnerable to heatwaves.” Nothing appears to have been done to make changes or adaptations to the AWCs and mini AWCs to deal with heatwaves.
The subsequent action plans in 2024, and 2026, repeat this assertion of how these centres are vulnerable by repeating the exact same sentence: “31,897 Main AWCs and 4,076 Mini Anganwadi Centres in Telangana State are vulnerable to heatwaves,” clearly indicating that nothing was done in these years to make anganwadis safer during summer months.
These reports over the years, indicate while action plans are made, the ‘action’ part in the plans is missing with no mitigation measures implemented in any of the AWCs and mini AWCs because if steps were taken then the number of vulnerable centres should have come down indicating either bureaucratic lethargy in report preparation, or that no steps were taken despite making repeated notes of vulnerability of these centres during heatwaves.
There also appears to be some confusion on just how many anganwadis are there in the state with the department of women and child welfare declaring on its website that Telangana has 35,781, while the 2026 HAP puts the total, both regular and mini AWCs, at 35,973.
Incidentally, preparing HAPs is not a recent development. The state, according to the latest 2026 document, “based on regular inputs from NDMA and scientific institutions, the Heat Wave Action Plan is revised and was updated in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025,” with this year’s report being the latest to be updated.
Heat wave in’action’ plans?
HAPs in 2021, ‘24, ’26 repeat numbers of vulnerable anganwadi (AWCs) and mini anganwadi centres.
Numbers indicate no steps were taken to mitigate heat impact at AWCs.
Confusion over how many AWCs in state – HAP 2026 says 35,973, govern website claims 35,781.
AWCs cover 21,43,983 ‘stakeholders’ including*:
3,32,943 pregnant, lactating mothers
9,53,834 children aged 7 months to 3 years
8,57,206 children aged 3 to 6 years
*Data from department of women and child welfare website