India, May 15 -- By late morning in peak summer, Chandrapur city starts to resemble a ghost town. As the sun beats down, streets empty, shops shutter and traffic thins. Lately, municipal workers have been driving through the city with water-spraying vehicles to hose down the streets, to bring temperatures down - a futile exercise as the city continues to bake.

In recent years, peak summer temperatures in Chandrapur have hovered around 45degC. This year the temperature on April 25, the city recorded the highest temperature in five years at 45.9degC. And, according to experts, the worst is yet to come.

So, what's turning up the heat in the district?

Experts point out that Chandrapur is in the throes of a rapid transformation, a shift tha...