from Hacker News

Hit by heatwave, Mumbai is ignoring a quick fix to cool off

by akbarnama on 3/10/25, 4:49 PM with 2 comments

• by PopAlongKid on 3/10/25, 5:06 PM

  >We keep them shut in afternoon to undertake maintenance work,” Pardeshi said. “In some wards, locals ask for gardens to be shut to prevent anti-social activities.”

  Yet the parks are only closed from 1 PM to 3 PM, probably the hottest hours. It seems like an extremely flimsy justification for a mere 2 hours closure. How much does it cost just to have staff go around closing and then re-opening the parks?

• by jerlam on 3/10/25, 7:17 PM

  It sounds odd to have the staff perform maintenance work at the warmest temperature of the day, not to mention the period of time where the demand is also high. Imagine a subway that is closed in the early afternoon for maintenance, people would be stranded and businesses would be outraged.

  Reading between the lines, the parks' real audience may be office workers who are employed during this time, and the parks are closed to keep everyone (undeserving) out so that they are nicer for those people. But I'm not part of this culture.