PM Narendra Modi chairs multiple meetings with a day to go for counting

The counting of votes for the 543 Lok Sabha seats is scheduled for Tuesday. Exit polls broadcast on Saturday predicted a win for the BJP-led NDA

On Sunday, with counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls a day away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a series of meetings, including one to review the new government’s 100-day agenda and another to assess the heatwave situation in the country.

In his meetings, the PM stressed the need to ensure regular fire and electrical safety audits in hospitals and public buildings. He also chaired a meeting to review the preparations to celebrate the World Environment Day, which falls on June 5.

The counting of votes for the 543 Lok Sabha seats is scheduled for Tuesday. Exit polls broadcast on Saturday predicted a win for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The PM, even before the polling had started, had spoken of how he had already started working on the ‘100-day agenda’ of his next government. He had asked his Council of Ministers to prioritise programmes and initiatives for the first 100 days.

In the meeting to review the heatwave conditions in parts of the country, Modi instructed officials that proper drills for preventing and handling incidents of fire must be undertaken on a regular basis, according to an official statement. He also said that regular drills for the maintenance of fire lines in forests and productive utilisation of biomass must be planned.

According to the statement, the PM was briefed that as per forecasts, the heatwave is likely to continue in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Monsoon this year is likely to be normal and above normal in most parts of the country and below normal in parts of peninsular India, the statement said.

Senior government officials who were part of the meeting said that the PM expressed concern about the forest fire incidents which lead to loss of lives and ecological damage. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were urged to remain on alert in the hills, especially those considered prone to forest fire incidents this year. 

As for the heatwave incidents, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)’s existing advisories and mock drill plans and ways for their effective implementation in the states were discussed.

"Through NDMA, state departments will be pursued for executing their heat action plans (HAPs). For those who haven't revised any will be asked to put their plans in motion and those which have HAPs, will be urged to hold regular mock drills to check preparedness on all fronts," an official requesting anonymity said. 

The Centre is confident that though the monsoon is patchy right now, it will pick up pace soon and provide relief from the heatwave. The HAPs are standard operating procedures that state governments and civic authorities deploy to tackle heatwave-related impacts. A study by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) last year found that 37 HAPs it analysed were “insufficient and non-transparent”. At least 160 people have died of heatstroke over the last month in Uttar Pradesh and 27 people have reportedly died in Bihar last week due to heat related illnesses.

In his meetings, in light of deaths in hospitals because of electrical short-circuits, the PM emphasised the need to ensure regular fire and electrical safety audits in hospitals and other public places, the government said. The PM also chaired a meeting on the post-Cyclone Remal situation, especially in the northeast region, where he was briefed about its impact in the affected states, including the loss of lives and damage to houses and other properties due to landslides and floods in Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura.