1,400 dead across India since monsoon began on May 28
NEWDELHI: The Union home ministry’s National Emergency Response Centre said on Monday that 1,400 people have died from rain-and-flood-related causes since May 28.
The number is almost as high as the 1,480 and the 1,420 deaths from such causes in all of 2015 and 2016, making this year’s monsoon one of the most destructive in recent years.
The statistics include fatalities from drowning, landslides, fallen houses and lightning strikes since May 28, when monsoon made landfall in Kerala.
The Kerala floods alone accounted for 488 deaths.
Between August 8 and 28, flash floods ravaged all but two of the state’s 14 districts, and led more than a million people to leave their homes and seek shelter at relief camps.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the second-highest number of fatalities at 254. On Monday, 10 people died in Uttar Pradesh and 13 were killed in Uttarakhand.
West Bengal recorded the third-highest number of deaths, at 210, while in Karnataka, 170 people died.
Maharashtra, with more than 100 fatalities, had the fifth-highest number of deaths.
On Sunday, around 180 tourists were evacuated from Mussoorie’s famous Kempty Falls after heavy rain made water from the 40-foot fall spill onto the main road.
››FULL REPORT, P7 MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is planning to launch a system to help it monitor the pace and progress of work before it releases funds for infrastructure projects.
The Evidence Based Project Management System (EBPMS) is essentially a watchdog software. It would monitor road work or dam construction, for instance, in real time by using technologies such as the Geographical Information System — which captures and stores geographical data — to trace the progress of a project.
EBPMS will be installed at Mantralaya and fed with details of projects across the state, including their cost, current status, videographed proof and reasons for delay, an official from the planning department said.
Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had announced the project in his first budget speech in March 2015. The government has now completed a detailed project report and will appoint a consultant to develop the software. The system will first be introduced in the Public Works
Department and Water Resources Department on a pilot basis, likely over the next two months. “In two months, we will launch the pilot project in PWD and Water Resources departments for their projects like roads, dams and buildings,” Mungantiwar said. “This will help us complete the projects within the projected cost and time. The departments will be able to maintain quality and also avoid cost escalation.” The government expects to use the system in all departments in three years.
Officials said the system will not only help the government manage its funds better, but also keep an eye on the quality of work, and prevent corruption.
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