Death toll in Sri Lanka monsoon rains hits 19
Colombo, May 26: The death toll in Sri Lanka monsoon rains reached 19 on Saturday while over 128,000 people have been affected, the country's Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.
DMC Spokesperson Pradeep Kodippili said two people were reported missing in the south while over 55,000 people had been evacuated to safer areas, Xinhua news agency reported.
With the threat of more rains in the coming days, Kodippili said those living in low areas, close to rivers and lakes were advised to evacuate and the police along with tri forces had been deployed in the affected districts for relief assistance.
Till date, over 4,000 houses, mainly in the south and north central Sri Lanka have been fully or partially damaged.
Kodippili also warned the naval and fishing communities to be vigilant as the wind speed could increase up to 60 to 70 km per hour.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier this week instructed relevant authorities to immediately provide relief to the people affected by floods and landslides.
The Meteorological Department said that "heavy falls above 100 millimetres can be expected at some places in Sabaragamuwa, Western, Central and North-Western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts".
Over 200 people were killed and 78 people went missing when the monsoons caused severe floods and landslides across Sri Lanka in 2017.
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BJP names 9 candidates for RS polls, party chief Nitin Nabin to contest from Bihar
New Delhi (PTI): BJP national president Nitin Nabin was on Tuesday nominated as the party's candidate from Bihar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of nine candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, fielding its former West Bengal unit chief Rahul Sinha and Chhattisgarh unit vice-president Laxmi Verma from the respective states.
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Assam PWD Minister Jogen Mohan and MLA Terash Gowalla will be the saffron party's candidates for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament from the state.
The BJP has also nominated its Odisha unit president, Manmoham Samal, and leader Sujit Kumar, an incumbent Rajya Sabha MP, as candidates from the state for the upcoming polls.
BJP leader Shivesh Kumar will join the fray from Bihar and Sanjay Bhatia, a former Lok Sabha MP of the party, will be its candidate from Haryana. Kumar is Bihar BJP's general secretary.
The names of the candidates have been approved by the party's central election committee, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said.
