The burden of summer in Asia’s largest wholesale market

Many felt that Delhi’s heatwave this year was not so intense but the workers in the wholesale vegetable and fruit market - Azadpur Mandi - have a different experience to share

Sanskriti Talwar

Ramakant carrying three sacks of peas across the open yard of Azadpur Mandi in Delhi in May-end on a day when the temperature in the capital was recorded as 40°C. The mandi is Asia’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

New Delhi: Ramakant Yadav walked briskly across the open yard of Asia’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market, Azadpur mandi, carrying three sacks of peas, each 25kg, on his head. He wove through pushcarts, trucks, and crates in the blistering 40°C sun. Sweat ran down his head, face and torso, soaking his shirt within minutes.

He pulled off the gamcha wrapped around his head and wiped sweat from his face. He had just earned 30 rupees for each sack, walking nearly a kilometre and a half to deliver them to a retailer.

This is what he does for a living: 12 hours a day hauling sacks, sometimes nearly twice his weight, from 6am to 6pm, with only short breaks in between. There are no days off. Even in extreme heat.

Ramakant is 36 years old. A migrant from Bihar’s Darbhanga district, Ramakant came to Delhi as a young boy, travelling over 1,000 kilometres in search of work. He has spent most of his youth labouring in this vast wholesale market. 

He doesn’t have a labour card to officially identify him as a loader (palledar) working in the mandi. “Even if we get one, we don’t know how it would help us,” he said.

So, the only thing that identifies him as a loader in the crowd is what he wears on his back: a pitthoo – a handmade pad stitched from scraps of old gunny sacks, protecting his skin from peeling off while lifting rough and heavy burlaps.

Worker Ramakant Yadav, 36, wipes sweat off his face in the heat of late May at Azadpur Mandi in Delhi.

Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

Workers at Azadpur mandi, a massive wholesale market in Delhi, who work as loaders wear a pitthoo – a handmade pad stitched from scraps of old gunny sacks - on their backs to protect their skin from peeling off while lifting loads. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story 

His village, Kusheshwar Asthan, a low-lying area, is frequently affected by floods. “There’s no work available in the village,” Ramakant said. “The only option is to sit at home and eat whatever little we have.”

That’s why so many from the village head to big cities in search of work. “I carry the responsibility for seven family members back home, including my four children and elderly parents, alone.”

Ramakant has set himself a daily target of earning Rs 1,000. This has to cover a monthly rent of Rs 4,500 for a 6-by-7-foot room in nearby Adarsh Nagar, which he shares with four other migrants from Bihar, along with food expenses and savings to send home. 

“There have been times when I felt dizzy, carrying the load in such hot weather,” Ramakant shared. When that happens, he usually sits down for a while before getting back to work.

Acknowledging heat

Delhi recorded two major heatwave spells this year. One in April and another in June, based on India Meteorological Department’s official criteria. 

“Even if temperatures cross 40°C, a heatwave is declared only when they remain at least 4.5°C above normal for two consecutive days,” Dr. Akhilesh Srivastava, a scientist with the department, explained. “There is a second threshold. If temperatures exceed 45°C at two stations for two days, a heatwave is declared on the second day, regardless of the departure from normal.”

Loaders at Azadpur mandi carry farm produce on their heads and backs a day after a heatwave was announced in Delhi in mid-June. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

Although May usually sees intense heat, Srivastava noted that frequent thunderstorm activity this year helped moderate temperatures, preventing a formal heatwave declaration that month.

Delhi’s heat action plan advisory encourages employers to shift outdoor workers’ schedules away from peak afternoon hours (1pm-5pm) during a heat alert. But for informal workers like Ramakant, there is little choice: “The more we walk, the more we earn,” he said, especially since this is the time when trucks laden with vegetables begin arriving from nearby states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and agents need labourers to unload them.

“It’s hard for anyone to even step inside the vegetable sheds at that time, let alone stop and talk…     There’s no calm here. You can’t even close your eyes for a minute. Even if you try, there’s noise everywhere, ‘chae chae’ from one side, shouting from the other,” Ramakant said. 

The loaders have learned to navigate the chaos, as one after another emerges from the sale sheds carrying weights on their heads or backs, anywhere from 10 kilograms for 10 rupees to over 100 kilograms for 50 rupees. The farther they walk, the more they are paid.

This is despite a 2019 order by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee of Azadpur, a government body set up to govern the economic activities, trade, and working conditions of the mandi, that places a limit of 50 kilograms on the weight that a loader may carry. 

Azadpur mandi, spread across 80 acres in the north of Delhi, Asia’s largest wholesale market for fruits and vegetables, was bustling in mid-June. The Migration Story

According to the Economic Survey of Delhi 2023-2024, Azadpur mandi does an annual trade of over 150 crore rupees in sale and purchase of 42 lakh tonnes of fruits and vegetables from several states, in three market yards spread across 100 acres. The main Azadpur mandi yard alone spans nearly 80 acres, roughly the size of 60 football fields. 

Inside the mandi yard, roads are a constant tangle of movement. Trucks, handcarts, and e-rickshaws jostle for space, their horns merging in a continuous din. In some areas, there is barely room to walk. Where there is space, men and women squat on the ground, selling fruits and vegetables. Crushed leaves and half-rotten produce lie scattered along the edges, where stray cattle feed.

Among the many on the move are at least 10,000 loaders, according to local activists, carrying farm produce on their heads and backs.

On a short break, Shravan Kumar, 45, sipped a glass of sattu, a protein-rich drink made from roasted gram flour, that helps cool the body, before heading off for another round of loading. “It feels like 50°C,” he said.

Meteorologists refer to this as the ‘apparent’ or ‘feels-like’ temperature, which is temperature as perceived by the human body because of the combined effects of air temperature, humidity and wind speed.  High humidity interferes with the body’s ability to cool itself through sweating. “When humidity is high, sweat doesn’t evaporate efficiently, so the body retains more heat,” Srivastava explained.

Loader Shravan Kumar, 45, said he felt the temperature was 50°C as he worked at the Azadpur mandi in Delhi in late May. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story 

The impact intensifies when high temperatures persist and winds blow from warmer surfaces. “For people doing hard labour under direct sunlight, like in the mandi, the impact is even greater, as more heat is generated when strenuous work is done in high temperatures under direct sun,”  Srivastava added.

It is 3 pm. Shravan will work for three more hours before returning to work again at midnight. In between, he will head to his one-room house in Kewal Park nearby which he and his family of five rent for Rs 6,000 a month, to bathe, eat, and sleep in.

A native of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Shravan began working as a loader in the market in 2007. “This is a mandi. No one is from here, everyone is a migrant,” he said.

It’s a hard truth to swallow. When a loader collapses from working in the heat, hardly anyone stops to help. “If someone from his village is around, they might sprinkle some water and help him up. If not, no one even asks,” Shravan shared with The Migration Story.

Shravan never wants to lose his life like that. “As the temperature rises, so does the work. But if I can’t manage, I sit in the shade. After all, I have to keep working all my life,” he said, although he admitted that it affected his earnings.

Shade, water and heat economics

A study by the International Labour Organisation projects that by 2030, more than 2% of total working hours will be lost, globally, each year, due to heat stress: either because it becomes too hot to work or because workers must slow down to cope with rising temperatures. In regions like South Asia and West Africa, the productivity loss could be as high as 5%.

While the NDMA has passed an advisory on heatwaves, there is no process to ensure how these recommendations will get implemented. In the mandi, the APMC and commission agents, both, pass responsibility to the other though a dip in worker productivity affects both.

There is only one dedicated rest room for labourers in the entire market, with no ceiling fans and no drinking water facility. On most days, it is partly taken over by parked motorcycles. In a market, where thousands work as loaders, cart pullers, and sanitation workers, this space is far from adequate. In this weather, a designated place to sit and access to drinking water are basic necessities that loaders said they still lacked.

There is only one dedicated rest room for labourers in the entire Azadpur Mandi in Delhi, with no ceiling fans and no drinking water facility. On a day in mid-June, it was partly taken over by parked motorcycles. The Migration Story

“There’s nowhere to sit,” said 30-year-old Vibhishan Yadav. “If I sit somewhere inside the shed, a commission agent will immediately ask me to get up—after all, he pays to occupy that space. The agent doesn’t understand my helplessness. But when he needs help to move his vegetables, he’ll call me. We loaders have to stay here, so we have to listen.”

For fixed labourers like Rahul Kumar, 32, from Nawada village in Bihar’s Patna district, there is a little relief. Kumar is attached to one of the commission agents and is allowed to sit and drink from a plastic water camper the agent buys for 20 rupees.

Water tanks for drinking are installed across the market, but loaders, traders and commission agents said they didn't want to risk their health drinking from them, as the tanks are rarely cleaned.

While surveying the water tanks, locally known as piyau, across the wholesale market last year, local activist Nishant Gulati found that “many of them were uncleaned, with cracked-open lids and stagnant water,” confirming they were unfit for drinking.

“There is water in it for two weeks or so, and then not. It’s never regular,” said Ramakant. “So we end up buying water every day, spending around 100 rupees on it from our pockets,” added Vibhishan.

“What else can we do? We don’t want to die in this heat just because there’s no water,” said      Ramakant. “We earn, so we buy it ourselves. But it feels wrong. These are basic facilities the government should be providing.”

Loaders Ramakant Yadav and Vibhishan Yadav (on right), are both migrants from Bihar. “We end up buying water every day, spending around 100 rupees on it from our pockets,” said Vibishan during a work day at Azadpur Mandi in Delhi,  in mid June.Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

Sudhakar, Secretary of APMC, Azadpur, declined to comment on the lack of rest spaces for labourers, irregular drinking water supply, and the violation of weight regulations. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that all 28 drinking water tanks in the market are cleaned every three months and are being used by workers.

Who heeds the good advice of the advisories?

On June 12, 2025, the NDMA issued an advisory to protect informal workers from heatwaves. It recommended shifting work to early mornings or late evenings, extended breaks from 12 to 4 pm, safe drinking water, hydration stations, regular breaks, refillable bottles, and temporary cooling centres near markets.

 “Authorities issue these advisories, but they rarely reach the workers…,” said Harveer Singh, a loader and an activist working for the rights of labourers in the mandi. “While there should be a labour representative in the APMC, there is none,” he added, pointing out that six cart-pullers died last year due to heat exhaustion, while carrying farm produce. Since they were informal workers, no one took responsibility. 

An APMC official said the responsibility of implementing advisories related to heatwaves lies with the commissioning agents who hire them.

Rajinder Sharma, a commission agent and president of Federation of Fruits and Vegetables Association at Azadpur mandi, however said, “It is the duty of the APMC… still, we try to help. We sometimes place 5 to 10 bottles of 20 litres each of cold water at the auction platform,” he said, referring to the sale sheds.

A water tank with its last cleaning date marked on the wall outside the APMC office at Azadpur mandi in Delhi in June. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

Experts say the Delhi Heat Action Plan (HAP), though well-intentioned, lacks the power to protect informal workers. Amruta SN and Selomi Garnaik, Climate and Energy Campaigners at Greenpeace India who have worked closely with informal workers on the issue of heatwaves, argue that the plan suffers from weak implementation and lacks enforceability.

“The Delhi HAP is a great step forward — but without teeth and nails,” said Amruta. “It has no dedicated budget, no legal mandate, and no central authority to oversee implementation. So far, just 20 of the promised 3,000 water ATMs have been installed, exposing the gap between promise and reality.” She added that heatwaves must be declared a national disaster by the NDMA and better coordination between ministries was essential to unlock stronger action.

Garnaik pointed out that most heat advisories, like those for shaded rest areas, ORS, and drinking water, are issued as recommendations, not enforceable obligations. “There’s no binding framework that compels employers, contractors, or public institutions to act, especially in the informal economy, where over 90% of India’s workforce operates,” she said. “The state issues guidelines but shifts the onus to private actors like traders or contractors, who don’t see themselves as employers and face no penalties for inaction.” 

To fix this, Garnaik said, India needs legally enforceable heat safety standards covering informal and outdoor labour, proper funding for local institutions to implement protections, and channels for workers to participate in shaping the response. “Without that structural shift, advisories will continue to exist only on paper—while workers suffer on the frontlines.”

A worker carries a water can in Azadpur Mandi in Delhi in mid-June. Sanskriti Talwar/The Migration Story

The reporter made multiple attempts to reach Delhi’s Development and Labour Minister, Kapil Mishra, under whose jurisdiction the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee falls, for a comment on how his department ensures that heatwave advisories are effectively communicated and enforced for informal workers at Azadpur mandi. However, he could not be reached on his official number until the time of writing this report. 

For workers like Ramakant, that gap is not just a policy failure but a daily struggle for survival. 

“No one does anything for labourers,” he said. “If someone helps us, he’s like god. But there’s no one, only God.”

Edited by Meetu Desai

Sanskriti Talwar is an independent journalist based in New Delhi. She reports on human rights, gender, sustainability and rural issues from the northern regions of India.