New Delhi, March 21 : The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed concerns over the status of heatwave in the country, with Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu terming it “a serious issue” and asking the government to come up with an advisory. Raising the issue, BJP’s Vikas Mahatma demanded detailed guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on the issue, addressing the problems of people especially farmers. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has raised a yellow alert for heat wave in the moth of March. In Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the temperature has already touched 44 degrees C. “The poor and the farmers are the most affected due to heatwave. They face incidents of heatstroke. The yield of grain decreases and the milk starts deteriorating,” Mahatma said. He warned that incidents of forest fire also increase with the onset of heatwave. He said the ted States and Canada saw 1,400 deaths last year due to heatwave and the government needed to come out with guidelines on the matter. Chairman Naidu told Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi that the government should ponder over the suggestion of guidelines. “If March sees this much of heat, what will happen in the coming days?” ASU MR