Lieutenant governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and chief minister Rekha Gupta reviewed Delhi’s heatwave preparedness measures and directed authorities to expand mobile relief vans and cooling centres across the city to cater to more people, officials from the LG’s office said on Tuesday.LG Sandhu has directed departments to increase the number of mobile relief vans and cooling centres and deploy them in areas with a higher concentration of street vendors and homeless people. (HT Photo)During a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday, attended by ministers Pravesh Verma and Ashish Sood as well as heads of government departments and civic agencies, the LG directed all authorities to work as a single team to ensure swift public relief from extreme heat, officials said.“The LG and the CM noted that one mobile relief van per district may be inadequate for a city the size of Delhi. LG Sandhu has directed departments to increase the number of mobile relief vans and cooling centres and deploy them in areas with a higher concentration of street vendors, homeless people, labourers and others who spend long hours outdoors for their livelihood, as well as in markets with heavy footfall,” an official said.During the meeting, Gupta directed officials to exercise extra caution during employee shift changes at cooling centres to ensure services remain uninterrupted. She emphasised that all water pots, coolers and containers must be refilled promptly so that no citizen finds them empty at any point.In the past few days, the mobile heat relief units have served around 4.7 million beneficiaries, including distributing 186,413 litres of water, 244,002 ORS packets, 67,593 free cotton towels (gamchas) and 49,666 protective caps across the city.DDA officials informed the LG and the CM that 15 DDA sports complexes have been equipped with water coolers and RO purifiers, while plans are underway to install water ATMs in public parks.governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and chief minister Rekha Gupta reviewed the heatwave action plan undertaken by various Delhi government departments and the civic agencies and directed the authorities to expand mobile relief vans and cooling centres across Delhi.During the meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday, which was also attended by Delhi ministers Pravesh Verma and Ashish Sood, heads of all government departments and civic agencies, the LG also directed the agencies to work as a single team to ensure swift public relief from the heat, officials from the LG’s office said on Tuesday.“The LG and the CM pointed out that since Delhi has a large population across 13 districts, having just one mobile relief van per district may not be enough. LG Sandhu has directed departments to increase the number of mobile relief vans and cooling centres and deploy them in areas having a heavier presence of vendors and homeless, labour, people on streets for livelihood reasons and in markets with heavy footfall,” said an official.During the meeting, CM Gupta directed officials to ensure extra caution during employee shift changes at cooling centres so that public service remains uninterrupted. She emphasised that all water pots, coolers, and containers must be refilled immediately so that no citizen finds them empty at any point.In the past few days, the mobile heat relief units have served around 4,700, 000 beneficiaries, including distributing 186,413 liters of water, 244,002 ORS packets, 67,593 free cotton towels (gamchhas) and 49,666 protective caps across the city.The DDA officials informed the LG and CM that 15 DDA sports complexes have been equipped with active water coolers and RO purifiers, and plans are underway to install water ATMs across public parks.