Stagnant water at sites makes Ggn citizens vulnerable to dengue, malaria

The large scale construction activities happening in Gurugram is proving to be a challenge in tackling vector-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria as most of these sites having poor drainage facilities making it ripe for the larvae to grow due to stagnant water at these places.

Besides construction activities carried out by private builders, there are also large scale developmental activities to revamp the city's infrastructure across various parts.

In most of the sites, the stages of construction at the beginning stretch which has resulted in large pits being dugged where the water gets stored.

Mentioning of the status of development at NH-8 underpasses and flyovers that are being developed at various intersections, the authorities stated that 50 per cent of the construction is complete.

Recently, the poor drainage system of the city was exposed when the rain showers that lashed city earlier resulted in most of the roads getting inundated.

The problem got further compounded when along with rainwater, the sewage water flooded some part of the city roads.

In some areas like Sector-21, Udyog Vihar and Sikanderpur, the waterlogging problem still persists.

While the civic agencies in collaboration with the various citizen groups have already launched various awareness programmes on tackling vector-borne diseases, there is a steady rise of patients with dengue and chikungunya.

This year, there have already been around 20 cases of dengue, 14 cases chikungunya and four cases of malaria.

More than 250 larvae have already been found in the surveillance by the district health department.

Not only vector borne disease but there is also an additional challenge of dealing with rise in water borne diseases like diahorrea among city residents.

In 2016, there were more than 400 cases of dengue that were registered by the district health department.