New Delhi, June 5 -- "It is scorching hot. If I get tired or feel unwell, I cannot rest anywhere, as there is no place for us to take a break," said Nagalakshmi, a sanitation worker with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Her words echo the reality faced by hundreds like her, caught in the throes of a city transformed by heat.

Once lauded as India's Garden City - famed for its tree-lined avenues, sprawling parks and placid lakes that kept its weather temperate - Bengaluru now finds itself in the grip of a crisis. Since 1975, the city's mean air temperature has risen by 0.23 degrees per decade.

The city's climate has changed dramatically over the past few decades. According to TV Ramachandra, coordinator of the Energy and We...