S Delhi Mayor blames waterlogging for rising vector-borne diseases

New Delhi: Amid an unusual monsoon this year, even as vector-borne diseases rose compared to last year, South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan of the BJP, on Tuesday blamed excessive waterlogging in the city for this rise and held the Delhi government responsible for it.

South MCD officials in a press conference over the issue, alleged that the Delhi government's "10 hafte, 10 baje, 10 minute" campaign to clear stagnant water from households had purportedly failed and said that the money spent on these advertisements should have ideally been allotted to the MCDs to keep vector-borne diseases in check. "Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's campaign '10 hafte, 10 baje. 10 minute' is an eyewash, SDMC taking measures on ground to control vector-borne diseases," Suryan said, claiming that the Delhi government is not helping but instead trying to take credit for all the work that the MCD had been doing.The South MCD said that it had gone all out with 550 fogging machines, 8 heavy vehicles, 4 power tankers, 1,070 pitthu pumps, 46 motor pumps to ensure mosquito breeding is checked. It added that over 57.78 lakh homes had been inspected, of which over 37,000 were found to be hotspots for breeding.

According to data compiled by the South MCD, here has been a rise in cases of malaria, dengue and chikungunya since last year. 36 cases of Malaria were reported in August this year, 7 more compared to the 29 cases in August 2020. 21 cases of chikungunya were reported in August this year, whereas 16 cases were reported in August 2020. Dengue cases saw the highest spike, with 72 cases being reported this August compared to last year's 47 cases.

"The cases have increased because the Delhi government hasn't done it's part in controlling issues that were caused by heavy rainfall such as waterlogging," Suryan said.