Senkesi Bhagyalakshmi (60), a resident of Rangasaipet in Warangal, went out in the afternoon’s heat on two consecutive days to a neighbourhood community hall for her pension verification. On May 23, she passed away from a possible heat stroke. Temperatures in the district had crossed 45°C that day.
“She was separated from her husband, lived alone and had no children. The Aasara pension was her only source of income. On the second day, she came back home and collapsed in the kitchen,” said her niece Shobha.
Bhagyalakshmi was one of the 51 victims of heatstroke deaths from Telangana on May 23, according to the next day’s edition of Telugu daily Eenadu.
Bhagyalakshmi was cremated. Her relatives lived next door and had been supporting her. They said they realised only after the cremation that they should have informed the police and had an autopsy done to access the ex-gratia allotted to families of victims who die from a heatwave.
On May 23, the office of Telangana’s Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, who is in charge of Disaster Management, announced that 16 people had died due to heat this summer. A compensation of Rs 4 lakh per victim was also announced.
However, a few days later, the Disaster Management department told TNM that these 16 were only suspected heat stroke deaths. So far, 8 out of these 16 persons have been confirmed to have died from heat-related illnesses.
But Bhagyalakshmi didn't make it to these lists. Her family won't be able to access any ex-gratia.
Sections of Telugu media have been constantly reporting suspected heat stroke deaths this summer. Between May 21 and 23, many places in Telangana recorded a maximum temperature above 46°C.
On May 23, the same day Bhagyalakshmi died, Telugu daily Eenadu reported 51 heat stroke deaths in a single day. The previous day, it had reported 34 heat stroke deaths.
But most of these reported victims are unlikely to be eligible for compensation.
According to Telangana’s Revenue department, 38 people died due to heatwave conditions in the six-year period from 2019 to 2024, as per the state’s latest Heatwave Action Plan for 2026. But the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI) reports show that 560 people died due to heat or sunstroke in Telangana during the same period.
So why the difference? The answer lies in the methodology – NCRB simply compiles numbers from the state police, but the Revenue department follows a more rigorous protocol.
Heat deaths in Telangana
Victims of heatwaves are usually from professions and communities that are marginalised and most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. Last year too, Telangana’s Revenue Department confirmed only eight heat-related deaths.
Discrepancies in counting heat deaths have been noted all over India, not just between state disaster management authorities' and police data but also between data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation's (MoSPI) EnviStats India report, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The difference in methodology followed by different government agencies has led to ambiguity and underreporting of heat deaths in India, according to HeatWatch, a non-profit working on tackling the impact of heatwaves. The added question of compensation is further complicating this count in states like Telangana, which have officially recognised it as a disaster.
A recent study by researchers Piyush Narang and Ashok Gadgil from the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley, US, estimated that “a single day of extreme heat causes approximately 3,400 excess deaths nationally; a five-day heatwave causes nearly 30,000” – numbers far higher than those counted by any government agency.
Heat fatalities are documented to be rising worldwide, but the impact on health and mortality remains difficult to quantify, as the role of heat may not always be clearly visible.
Making it to the heat death statistics
Telangana notified heat waves as a state-specific disaster in 2025, as previously done by Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other states.
State-specific disasters can use up to 10% of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) funds. While the 16th Finance Commission has recommended notifying heatwaves as a national disaster, this is yet to be done, hindering states’ access to Union government funds, including compensation for heatwave deaths.
Acknowledging that heat wave deaths were significantly under-counted, the Telangana government in April 2025 notified the protocol for recording heat deaths through a government order. Until then, the state government had been providing a compensation of Rs 50,000 for heat deaths under the Apadbandhu accident insurance scheme. The April order allowed for a compensation of Rs 4 lakh.
To qualify for the compensation, firstly, the death must occur during a heatwave as defined by IMD – the maximum recorded temperature (for plains) is at least 40°C, and the departure from the normal maximum temperature is above 5°C. When the actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more, a heatwave is declared irrespective of the normal maximum temperature.
The district Collector is in-charge of ensuring that the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) or others diagnose the heat-related death, “based on the history of exposure to high ambient temperature and the reasonable exclusion of other causes of hyperthermia (abnormally high body temperature.)”
The officials must also consider the circumstances of the death, including “the environmental temperature and/or measured ante-mortem (before death) body temperature at the time of collapse,” the order said.
The heat death must be scrutinised and the report signed by the medical officer concerned, the mandal revenue officer (MRO) and a police officer not below the rank of a Sub-Inspector.
But according to officials, apart from an FIR, a post-mortem is also mandatory to certify a heat death.
Dr A Appaiah, District Medical & Health Officer (DMHO) for Hanamakonda, said that since April this year, around 13 suspected heatwave deaths were reported in the district. However, the victim’s family is eligible for compensation only after a post-mortem examination and the decision of the three-member committee (of MRO, police officer, and medical officer), and their report is submitted to the state government through the Collector, he said.
“Out of the 13 suspected cases, a couple of cases have been sent for post-mortem to the forensic department, under an assistant professor or professor. Depending on the result, which may reveal sunken lungs, a sunken heart, or other weather-related changes in the body that could point to high heat exposure, they may certify it as a heat death,” he said, adding that the relatives of the victim must approach the three-member committee to avail the ex gratia.
The suspected heat deaths under scrutiny are mainly cases of people hospitalised with indications of heat stroke, according to Revenue (Disaster Management) Secretary Hari Chandana Dasari. But in cases where a person may have collapsed at home due to heat exposure, lack of awareness and the highly specific protocol mean people are not able to access compensation easily.
Hari Chandana said the sudden reported spike in heat deaths could be due to the Revenue Minister’s office announcing the news of ex gratia, prompting people to seek heatstroke compensation for even unrelated deaths.
A barber who lived in Warangal’s Shambunipet, Singarapu Kumaraswamy (50), was also one of the victims listed by Eenadu on May 23. His brother, Anil, said that the family was unsure of the exact cause of death. “He had a very high fever and was undergoing treatment at the Government MGM Hospital. Once he passed away, we did not collect any of the reports. We are unsure of the cause of death or how his name appeared in the papers,” Anil said.
He added that the family had heard of the ex gratia for heat stroke deaths but, amid the uncertainty over the cause of death, found the process difficult and went ahead with the final rites.
According to the Warangal MGM Hospital Superintendent Dr P Harish Chandra Reddy, no heat stroke deaths were reported from the hospital this year.
On May 22, amid a heatwave warning by IMD, Utukuri Somi Reddy (80) woke up early in the morning and went to his field in Puredupallu village in Mulugu district. He became thirsty after some time and went back into the village to buy a water bottle. He collapsed while walking back to his farm and passed away.
His family believed he had died from a heat stroke and reported it to the local police in Mangapet, who registered his death under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) as an accidental death due to sunstroke. Somi Reddy’s death is likely to make it to the NCRB’s heat death tally for 2026, but not the Telangana government’s disaster management department.
Mangapet Station House Officer TVR Suri was part of the three-member committee that submitted the report on Somi Reddy's death to the Collector, along with the doctor from the local PHC and the Mangapet MRO.
“The doctor said the body was not in a condition to perform a post-mortem. She said the man's abdomen seemed to have been ruptured from the heat and that a post-mortem wasn’t necessary. The doctor noted the cause of death as heat stroke and we all signed the panchnama and sent the report to the Collector,” he said, adding that the compensation depends on various guidelines.
Secretary Hari Chandana said that while eight heatstroke deaths have been confirmed this year since April, the cases are being vetted for compensation based on whether they fall below the poverty line, or whether they have any other insurance coverage, etc.
For instance, if the deceased is enrolled under the Rythu Bima life insurance scheme for farmers, the norms say the family can avail either of the two amounts, whichever is higher. Rythu Bima currently provides a cover of Rs 5 lakh.
In 2024, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had issued guidelines for autopsy findings to standardise the approach to confirming heatstroke and heat-related deaths. It specified that an autopsy is not mandatory in heat-related deaths.
In cases where clinical diagnosis is available, it is said that if the measured antemortem body temperature at the time of collapse was ≥ 40.6°C, the cause of death should be certified as heat stroke. It allows for exceptions for lower body temperatures when cooling has been attempted before arriving at the hospital.
In cases where clinical diagnosis is not available, the guidelines suggest looking for evidence of continuous exposure to a hot environment if no independent cause of death is identified. It also accommodates pre-existing health conditions worsened by heat.
“A significant number of these deaths will occur in persons having some pre-existing disease known to be exacerbated by heat stress. These deaths can be certified as heat-related, with the disease being considered a significant contributing condition, or vice versa," the NCDC had said.
It also suggests toxicologic examination of blood, urine, and vitreous humour if possible.
“Autopsy findings are nonspecific. The decision to conduct an autopsy should be based on the circumstances of the death, the age of the deceased, and the available resources,” NCDC added.
However, Hari Chandana said that the government goes by NDMA guidelines for providing compensation, which makes a post-mortem mandatory.