In Ahmedabad, heat is not a shared burden. It falls harder on some, and the difference is not marginal. Eastern wards — overcrowded, starved of trees, and up to 8°C hotter than the rural periphery — carry a disproportionate load. Western wards, with lower densities and better green cover, are comparatively spared.
A new study from Pandit Deendayal Energy University, published by a media outlet, has now mapped this divide with precision.
Researchers Shubham Kela, associate professor Anurag Kandya, and Viral Patel built what they call a Relative Heat Risk Index. They fed NASA satellite data into it, combining land surface temperature, green cover, and population density into one score per ward. The results were unambiguous.
Sixteen eastern wards landed in the “critical” category. They average 58,415 people per square kilometre. Tree cover is minimal. Together, they hold 32.4% of the city’s population — packed into just 53.6 square kilometres, one of the most heat-stressed urban pockets in the country.
Add six more “severe” risk wards, and nearly 44% of Ahmedabad lives in what the study calls thermal danger.
The rankings are sharp. Viratnagar scores highest on the danger index at 0.767. Dariapur follows at 0.753, then Amraiwadi at 0.748, Indrapuri at 0.736, and Maninagar at 0.717. All eastern.
At the other end: Gota at 0.153, Maktampura at 0.176, Sarkhej at 0.208. Mostly western.
But even the safer wards aren’t truly safe.
Gota is the greenest ward in the city. Yet 68% of its land still falls below the study’s minimum vegetation threshold, an NDVI score of 0.3. In ten wards, over 95% of land sits below that baseline. The green bar isn’t high. Most of the city doesn’t clear it.
Prof. Kandya was clear that heat is a city-wide problem, but said targeted action is what’s needed. He noted that the study prioritises land surface temperature over ambient temperature because it is easier and cheaper to measure across large areas.
The index isn’t just a ranking. It tells the municipality exactly where to act first.
Also Read: Heatwave Alert: Rising Temperatures Are Taking a Toll on Gut Health https://www.vibesofindia.com/heatwave-alert-rising-temperatures-are-taking-a-toll-on-gut-health/
