India's heatwaves are intensifying, with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar facing significant risk. Varanasi and Patna are especially vulnerable given summer temperatures exceeding 40°C, dense urban populations, and heavy reliance on outdoor and informal work. In response, Varanasi has a dedicated Heat Action Plan covering heat-risk mapping, public-health measures, and interventions for vulnerable communities. Patna has developed a Model Heat Action Plan through the district administration, BSDMA, UNDP, and technical partners, using hyper-granular heat-risk and vulnerability assessments.

 

Despite these plans, translating policy into sustained, on-the-ground protection remains difficult. Advisories, drinking water access, and temporary cooling or shading offer only partial relief, failing to address the prolonged exposure faced by street vendors, rickshaw and e-rickshaw pullers, construction workers, and sanitation workers.

 

These groups share common vulnerabilities: income dependent on daily physical labour, limited ability to reduce work during extreme heat, and heat exposure that threatens both health and earnings. With weak financial and social protection, healthcare costs and lost workdays deepen already precarious livelihoods.