Court takes on govt, civic bodies over dengue, chikungunya
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rapped the government and Delhi’s civic bodies for celebrating National Dengue Day on Tuesday without taking a single step to prevent the disease as proposed to the court.
A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C Hari Shankar noted that none of the municipal corporations made an effort to plan a scientific solution to prevent the outbreak of vectorborne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue this monsoon.
“The municipal corporation does not even have a map of where mosquito-borne diseases happened last year and where to fumigate.You are not even aware where the diseases are happening,” the bench said.
According to a status report filed by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, 80 cases of chikungunya and 30 cases of dengue were reported in Delhi in just four months since January 1 this year.
The season for the vectorborne diseases in Delhi is generally between July and December.
In 2016, Delhi saw its first ever chikungunya outbreak that affected 9,661 people. In 2015, 16,000 dengue cases were reported and 60 people lost their lives to the disease.
The bench directed the municipal corporations to submit a report on geographical mapping of areas affected by the vectorborne diseases and details of preventive and curative steps.
The court asked for details of prosecutions for mosquito-breeding last year. Over 1.2 lakh houses inspected by civic workers across the city last year had mosquitoes breeding on their premises.
The bench said it had not seen even basic preventive measures such as fumigation or a check on stagnant water in the capital.
“None of the authorities placed before us the schedule for fumigation or keeping a tab on stagnant water or booking for violation,” the bench said.
The court, which is looking to begin preventive work before the monsoon hits the capital, said the government waited for National Dengue Day to put out advertisements on its prevention and local or home-made cure.