Mumbai, May 30: The BMC will be installing CCTV cameras at flood-prone spots of Mumbai according to news reports. Ahead of monsoons, CM Fadnavis held a review meeting with the civic officials and Met department officials at the government guest house Sahyadri on Tuesday, during which the decision was taken.

Fadnavis held the review meeting for a round-up of all the precautionary measures the authority has planned for the monsoons. During the meeting, civic officials told the CM that they have identified 225 flood-prone areas in Mumbai. Out of all the flooding spots, steps have taken in at least in 120 places so that the water does not remain flooded for too long and that they drain-off. For water to drain out, dewatering pumps have been installed. Moreover, to avoid instances of people falling into manholes, CCTV cameras would be installed to keep a close vigilance on these identified flooding spots.

Last year a renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Deepak Amrapurkar died, after he slipped into an open manhole at Elphinstone Road during the August 29, deluge. Amrapurkar was returning home during heavy downpours when the tragic incident occurred. After that, the BMC drew a lot of flak for taking no proper measures and was alleged by citizens and activists for continuous negligence regarding keeping the manhole lids uncovered, which led to the tragic incident. Only after the mishap did the BMC reportedly covered 16 thousand manholes across Mumbai with safety nets.

In the meeting, CM Fadnavis also instructed Mumbai Met officials to send advance alerts about heavy showers, so that government, private offices and embassies can stay prepared well in advance. According to earlier reports, a review meeting was held in the BMC headquarters along with the UK, China and other embassies who slammed the civic disaster management cell for lack of communication. They complained to BMC for not having any official Twitter or other social media platform through which they can pass the message to their citizens who were in Mumbai about the natural calamity immediately. Therefore, CM Fadnavis has warned both BMC and Met officials to send pre-alerts for safety.

The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Tuesday as predicted by Skymet and IMD. Meanwhile, heavy showers are expected in next few days. Also, as monsoon arrived in Kerala, it will further advance to remaining parts of Kerala, and some parts of central Arabian Sea, coastal and south interior Karnataka, east-central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and to some parts of northeastern states as predicted by IMD.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 30, 2018 01:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).