Dengue death toll rises, state steps up action

With the dengue death toll in Bengal swinging upwards(unofficially 34 have died), the Mayor of Kolkata has pledged that beginning next year, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation(KMC) will start the process of controlling dengue and other infectious diseases earlier in the year.  The KMC, which came under the critique of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for delay in kickstarting dengue control measures, is planning to conduct blood tests to detect infectious diseases from March in 2013, Mayor Sovon Chatterjee said on Tuesday. ‘Dengue has also changed its nature. We took time in taking control of the situation’, he said.

 Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor, M K Narayanan, also said that the dengue menace could have been handled with more speed. ‘I have spoken to the Health secretary and he has assured me that his department is working on this and  the situation is under control’, Narayanan said.

 As for the Chief Minister, she rapped the civic body for negligence in taking up a clean up drive, identifying spots in the city which were accumulating stangnant water and helping larvae proliferate. She however patted the KMC on the back for cleaning the city streets thrice a day. 

Banerjee urged councillors and health department officials  to go door to door to educate the public from being  inflicted by dengue.