Who will be held responsible for dengue, chikungunya cases, asks HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the city government and civic agencies to give name of the officers who could be held liable to ensure that no dengue or chikungunya cases occur this year in the national Capital.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra asked the government and the agencies to name senior officers who will certify that there will be no cases of mosquito-borne tropical diseases here and that authorities have taken all preventive actions.

The Bench said: “Who will give us the certificate that there will be no dengue this year? Who will assure this court? We are talking of life of people here. Can you permit 21st century Delhi to be reeling under malaria, chikungunya, dengue.”

The court said it wanted senior officers of the authorities concerned to not just submit status report by sitting in air-conditioned rooms but to visit the field and do physical monitoring also. “We don’t want a status report, we want an inspection report,” said the court.

It further said that a lot of hospitals in Delhi remain underused and there was need to increase the number of beds to deal with additional requirements of beds during outbreak of vector-borne diseases.

The court’s direction came on two PILS accusing the Aam Aadmi Party government and the three Municipal Corporations of not acting vigilantly and responsibly in tackling mosquito-borne diseases.

Expressing concern over the numerous deaths in 2016, it also asked the agencies to inform it about what preventive steps they have taken in comparison to last year with regard to dengue, chikungunya, and malaria.

At least 86 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the city so far this year, even though the season of the vector-borne diseases had ended in December. 32 dengue cases have also been reported in the last four months, according to a municipal report released on Monday.

Of the 86 chikungunya cases reported till April 29, 19 of these were recorded last month, while 34 were diagnosed in March. 20 cases were detected in January and 13 in February. Six cases of dengue were reported in January, four in February, 11 in March and 11 in April.

The Municipal authorities had in early March called an all-hands workshop on prevention and control of vector-borne diseases to finalise a comprehensive action plan for combating the menace in the coming season.

In the workshop, SDMC Commissioner PK Goel had asked officials to “identify the cases of dengue and chikungunya coming to Delhi from other states”.

The LG on March 23 had held a review meeting with the three municipal commissioners on preparations for combating vector-borne diseases in the city in the wake of cases of vector-borne diseases still being reported.

The Court asked the city government and civic agencies to give names of officials who could be held liable to ensure that no dengue or chikungunya cases occur this year