Bengaluru: In what was being described as a historic awareness gathering against the use of drugs, the RGUHS event had students struggling to sit in the heat. Several medical students, being lectured on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle by national leaders Sunday, were visibly fatigued, while a handful of them fainted.At least six students had to be carried away from their seating areas by the volunteers by noon.Over 25,000 RGUHS students were seated across the stands and the grass turf of the Sree Kanteerava Stadium from 9am. But by 11 am, restlessness and frustration kicked in for those sitting on the turf as they were exposed to the scorching morning heat.A female student seated on the turf very close to the stadium’s east block fell unconscious and had to be carried off by volunteers.By the time chief minister DK Shivakumar reached the podium for his speech in the afternoon, several students had already vacated the turf and shifted to shaded areas. Seeing the visibly empty areas among the audience, Shivakumar directed the students to come back: “If you are disciplined … and want to be ambassadors, come back and sit in your designated areas.”With more students starting to feel unwell, the audience reduced to half midway through his speech.While acknowledging the heat, the chief minister also praised Bengaluru’s weather: “My friends, all of you are just trying to get away from this heat, but you should also remember that in the entire country, you don’t have this type of weather… This city is called not only the IT capital or health capital of India, but also an air-conditioned city.”During his address, vice-president CP Radhakrishnan also reiterated the chief minister’s statement on the city’s relatively cooler weather. “Climate is automatically controlled by God. This is the most air-conditioned city in the world,” he said.
