With temperatures threatening to hit 45–46 degrees Celsius over the next few days, Nagpur is staring down a double crisis: brutal heat and electricity bills that are bleeding its working class dry.
From March 1 to May 17, NMC health teams screened over 3.28 lakh citizens across UPHCs, health centres and municipal hospitals. A total of 76 heat-related cases have been recorded — 36 heat rash, 20 heat exhaustion, 14 heat cramps and 6 heat syncope cases. Eleven special cold wards have been activated across major hospitals, stocked with IV fluids, ice packs, ORS and trained staff.
Yet the city’s poorest cannot afford to run a cooler. Maharashtra charges one of the highest electricity rates in the country, and MSEDCL hiked its capital expenditure by 85 per cent to Rs 234.5 billion for FY2026. In Sudam Nagari, domestic worker Anuradha Shravan Kawale was handed a Rs 1,960 bill for 188 units in April — over Rs 10 per unit — nearly 10 per cent of her family’s monthly income. Her cooler sits switched off.
The government promises a 26 per cent tariff cut by 2030 — but only for consumers using under 100 units. For everyone else, the heat and the bills keep rising together.
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