NEW DELHI, July 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 49 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the past 48 hours, officials said Saturday.
The casualties were reported from across the state, including the districts of Agra, Meerut, Bareilly, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura and Ghaziabad that is barely 50 kms from the Indian capital.
"While six people lost their lives in Agra and Meerut each, four were killed in Mainpuri, three in Kasganj, and two each in Bareilly, Baghpat and Bulandshahr districts," a government official told the media.
"Other deaths were reported from districts such as Kanpur Dehat, Mathura, Hapur, Rae Bareli, Jalaun, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Banda, Firozabad, Amethi, Kanpur, Muzaffarnagar, and Ghaziabad," he added.
Apart from these deaths, several people sustained injuries in rain-related incidents like house collapse and electrocution, another official said.
Ghaziabad and Greater Noida, in particular, have been hogging media limelight for the past two weeks due to a spate of house collapses and road cave-ins, and because of their proximity to the Indian capital.
"A five-storied building collapsed in Ghaziabad's Khoda Colony late Friday evening, a day after a road near a cluster of housing socities caved in Vasundhara. Efforts are on to repair the road," a disaster management official said.
An under-constrcution building had also collapsed in the district's Dasna area on June 22, killing two persons and injuring several others, he added.
Similarly, in Greater Noida, a twin building collapse in Shahberi had claimed the lives of as many as nine people earlier this month. "The developer of the building has been arrested for using sub-standard raw materials for construction," a police official said.
Local media reports said that authorities in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida have now embarked on a massive drive to demolish all unauthorised buildings which are popular among the country's poor and middle-class because of low cost.
State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked district administration officials to oversee relief and rescue operations in all the affected districts and also announced a compensation of 400,000 rupees (5,600 U.S. dollars) for the families of each of the deceased, he added.
The weather department has predicted heavy rains for the next two days. "More showers are expected to lash the state in the next 48 hours. People are advised to exercise caution," a weather official said.
Rain-related deaths are common in northern India during monsoon every year. And building collapses are mostly due to poor construction practices and lack of regards for basic safety norms as mandated by the country's building code.
