One killed, 20 injured in stampede during Makar Mela in Odisha's Cuttack
Cuttack (Odisha), Jan 14: At least one person was killed and 20 others were injured, four of them seriously, in a stampede in Odisha's Cuttack district on Saturday, police said.
The incident took place as a large number of people congregated on Badamba-Gopinathpur T-Bridge on the occasion of Makar Mela, a police officer said.
Badamba-Narsinghpur MLA and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra confirmed that one woman, identified as 45-year-old Anjana Swain, died in the incident, while four seriously injured people were admitted to SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack city.
Mishra said other injured persons were admitted to a community health centre (CHC) in Badamba.
Athagarh Sub-collector Hemanta Kumar Swain said the incident took place due to a sudden increase in the number of devotees, including women and children, in the afternoon to visit a fair organised on the occasion and also to pay obeisance to Lord Singhanath.
The district administration said the congregation was massive as people were visiting the temple after a gap of two years due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Devotees from Cuttack, Khordha, Puri, Angul, Dhenkanal, Boudh and Nayagarh districts had come to the temple in large numbers, the sub-collector said.
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Bengaluru: Asia’s largest AI-based water command centre set to launch
Bengaluru: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is set to launch one of Asia’s largest AI-powered command centres to monitor water supply and sewage systems in real time, aiming to reduce leaks and improve efficiency, The Indian Express reported.
The Integrated Intelligent Water and Sewerage Management Centre, located at Shimsha Bhavan in Jayanagar, will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track, analyse and manage the city’s water network.
In addition to drinking water systems, all sewage treatment plants in the city are connected to the SCADA platform. The system checks if it adheres to National Green Tribunal (NGT) standards and tracks biogas generation from these facilities.
BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar said the system will oversee the 775 MLD Cauvery Stage 5 water supply, which serves nearly 110 villages, while also integrating Bengaluru’s broader water distribution and wastewater systems.
A major feature of the system is its use of AI to estimate water demand across different parts of the city. The platform will also detect leakages in pipelines instantly, helping reduce water losses, often referred to as Unaccounted-for Water (UFW) or Non-Revenue Water (NRW). Officers say this will be a key step towards creating a digital replica of Bengaluru’s entire water network.
Bengaluru loses about 28 per cent of its water supply either to leakage or theft.
SCADA has been developed with the financial assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The facility is located at Shimsha Bhavan in Jayanagar and is expected to be inaugurated soon by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
BWSSB says the initiative reflects a shift towards a data-driven administration in urban water management. The centre is expected to improve transparency, improve efficiency, and strengthen service delivery in a city that has a continuously growing water demand and infrastructure challenges.
Describing the project as a milestone, Manohar said, “The SCADA centre would bring a new phase in how Bengaluru manages its water and wastewater systems, combining scale with advanced technology.”
