Nagpur: As Nagpur reels under one of the harshest heatwaves in recent years, a disturbing and largely unnoticed crisis is unfolding on the city’s streets. In just the last ten days, 13 unidentified persons have died under suspicious “natural” circumstances, with officials now examining whether these deaths were in fact caused by extreme heat and sunstroke.
While the city struggles with soaring temperatures touching 45°C, the victims of this brutal weather appear to be the poorest and most invisible, the homeless, the destitute, and those forced to sleep in the open. Their deaths, discovered on roadsides and public places, are raising troubling questions about whether the city’s most vulnerable are being left to die in silence.
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Apr 28- 2026 - Time 10.30Hrs
Nagpur is currently experiencing relentless heat, with temperatures ranging between 43°C and 45°C for over a week. The heat has been so intense that even indoor spaces offer little relief. Fans and coolers, instead of cooling homes, are blowing hot air, while the nights bring no respite.
Afternoons have turned deserted, but residents say the real torment begins after sunset, when trapped heat keeps the city sweltering even past midnight. For those without shelter, people sleeping on pavements, under flyovers, and on roadsides, the city has become a death trap.
And now, the grim numbers are beginning to emerge.
According to hospital data, five unidentified bodies were sent to Mayo Hospital and eight to Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur (GMCH) over the past 10 days for post-mortem examination.
Most of the deceased were men aged between 32 and 55, and significantly, their bodies were found lying on roadsides, exposed to the brutal sun and unforgiving heat.
While the deaths have officially been recorded as natural, the circumstances strongly suggest a deadly pattern linked to the ongoing heatwave.
Officials say confirmation of heatstroke deaths can only be made after a formal medical audit. Dr. Deepak Selokar, Medical Officer of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), stated that after the post-mortem process, each death is reviewed by a death audit committee headed by the Civil Surgeon, which then determines whether heatstroke was the actual cause.
While this bureaucratic process continues, the harsh reality is already visible: people are collapsing and dying on the streets during an extreme heatwave.
The civic administration claims that several preventive measures are in place. The NMC says it has:
• Kept public parks open throughout the day,
• Installed drinking water facilities at various locations,
• Opened shelters for the homeless at seven places,
• Established cooling centres at municipal hospitals, Mayo, and GMCH.
On paper, the measures appear adequate.
But the deaths of 13 unidentified individuals in just 10 days suggest that the benefits of these arrangements may not be reaching the people most at risk.
The homeless, migrant labourers, and unidentified persons living in the open often remain outside the safety net of official systems, with little access to water, shelter, or emergency medical aid. For them, the city’s preparations may exist only in files, not on the ground.
The deaths of unnamed men on city roads may never attract the attention given to other civic failures, but the pattern is impossible to ignore. As temperatures continue to break records, Nagpur may be witnessing a silent humanitarian crisis, where extreme heat is quietly claiming lives at the margins.
The real question is no longer whether the city is hot enough to kill.
The question is whether the deaths of the poor and homeless are being dismissed as “natural” simply because no one is left to ask what really happened.
Until the audits are complete, the official cause of death may remain uncertain, but the deadly impact of Nagpur’s heatwave is already visible on its streets.
