Water-borne Disease Death Toll In Mumbai Now 251 - Thousands Sick - AFP

[hatrack]

The death toll from water-borne illnesses in India's financial and entertainment hub Mumbai and adjoining areas hit 251 Wednesday following record rains as a court ordered authorities to provide better relief. The high court order came after a number of Bollywood personalities and a non-governmental organisation filed a petition seeking action by government officials, accusing them of "total" disaster management failure.

Critics have been livid over what they say has been the lax response to the disaster by authorities in the western state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, in the face of the week-long monsoon deluge that ended August 2. For two days when the flooding that turned streets into rivers was at its peak, municipal authorities in Mumbai gave civic workers the day off. The court expressed serious concern over mounds of garbage and lack of drinking water.

The court also told the state government to disclose names of civic and government officials who can provide help and information to the victims of the worst flooding in living memory, as well as compile a list of the dead. "People must know who are the public faces who are accountable," it said in response to the court petition filed by Project Smita, a Mumbai-based NGO alongside Bollywood film maker Mahesh Bhatt, producer-director Ashok Pandit and theatre personality Aleque Padamsee.

Some 1,071 people drowned or were crushed by landslides across the state in the rains. Now a further 251 people have died of water-borne diseases as thousands of so-called "fever cases" crowd hospitals, a senior official said Wednesday.

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