NAPM calls for moratorium on punitive enforcement during heat wave

The National Alliance of People’s Movements strongly demanded an immediate moratorium on all eviction drives, livelihood confiscations and repressive enforcement actions against informal workers during peak summer months and heat wave periods.

In a letter to Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, a group of NGOs, unions and activists said any such action during extreme temperatures must be considered a threat to life and livelihood.

Informal workers are essential for the functioning of cities and municipalities, and protection from the heat is a legal and moral obligation of the state and employers. Protecting workers from extreme heat is a matter of public health, labor rights and climate justice, the paper said amid a flurry of demands for worker welfare.

The action plan on heat waves that the government unveiled a few weeks ago must be widely publicized in the public domain in Telugu, Urdu and Hindi, the letter demanded.

In cities, thousands of informal workers, including street vendors, construction workers, garbage collectors, sanitation workers, delivery workers, transport workers, domestic workers and other self-employed workers, are adversely affected by the heat wave as they are forced to work in open or poorly ventilated environments with little protection, leading to serious health risks.

The alliance called for various governance measures, heat protection measures, social security measures and accountability and monitoring.

Declaring heat waves as an occupational hazard, dedicated budgets to protect workers from heat, involvement of workers’ representatives in decision-making, access to safe drinking water, rest breaks, shaded areas and sanitation in all major workplaces, markets, workplaces and transport hubs, 24-hour access to public parks, mandatory provision of cooling infrastructure in highly exposed wages, free heat protection kits and several important demands to reduce working hours, reduction of working hours.

Published – 20 May 2026 20:39 IST