Death toll in Japan floods rises to 200
Tokyo, July 12 : The death toll from the torrential rains that have battered Japan reached 200, authorities said on Thursday, as search and rescue missions continue to find dozens still missing in the wake of flooding and landslides.
More than 70,000 personnel were involved in ongoing search and rescue missions for the 60 or more people still unaccounted for in the areas affected by the deluge, Xinhua news agency reported.
These include the hardest-hit regions of Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime prefectures.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said that as of early Thursday morning, 6,700 people remained in emergency evacuation shelters.
As some of the shelters were without air-conditioning, the Health Ministry warned of heat-related illnesses. Te weather agency said daytime temperatures could reach 35 degrees Celsius in the coming week.
The ministry, specifically, warned about the possibility of food poisoning, as in the past people fell ill in such shelters after consuming food that had been left out in the heat for too long amid lack of refrigerators.
Around 240,000 homes were cut off from water in western Japan and transportation systems were also severely disrupted.
The Transport Ministry, West Japan Railway Co. and local operators of the 27 lines in the affected areas, reported damage at over 100 locations and will be unable to restart services within the next few days.
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TMC MLA Humayun Kabir apologises for claiming 'coterie' influencing Mamata's decisions
Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has apologised to the party's leadership for his recent comment that a "coterie" was influencing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's key decisions.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, expressed his apology on Friday in reply to a show cause notice issued by the party's disciplinary committee.
"Yes, I have sent a reply. I will certainly follow party discipline. But I think being a person from the rural belt, not conversant with the ways of the city, I faced this situation for speaking my mind. However, I had not said anything against my party or its leadership," he told reporters.
"Our CM epitomises the spirit of 'Maa-Mati-Manush' and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing," he said.
A senior member of the TMC's legislative disciplinary committee said the reply to the show cause letter was received, and a decision on it will be communicated soon.
Kabir, however, said some other TMC MPs had on earlier occasions made comments against party colleagues but were not censured.
On Thursday, he met the CM in the assembly's lobby where she had asked him to reply to the show-cause notice first.
On November 26, Kabir had said a coterie within the party was taking certain decisions to cement their position and was influencing the CM's key decisions for their short-term gains.
He had said this a day after the TMC national executive meeting where the party had categorically asked its leaders not to make comments in public against any internal decision and formed disciplinary committees at different levels.
Kabir had earlier advocated for giving more responsibility to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reiterating that the Diamond Harbour MP was undoubtedly the number two in the party's hierarchy and those trying to undermine his influence would not succeed.
