‘Dengue helplines’ are of no assistance to citizens

In the wake of the surging number of cases of the disease in the Capital, that has broken all past records, the dengue helplines launched by the three Municipal Corporations and the government are nothing short of embarrassments as they lie nearly defunct. The total number of cases has reached 3,791 with this week alone recording 1,919 cases, but the efforts by the concerned agencies on <g data-gr-id="24">ground</g> are merely an eyewash.

During a reality check of the SDMC helpline, the officials, after enquiring about the nature of the complaint, gave no complaint number, let alone taking action on the complaint. Even, no further communication was made by the concerned department.

The Mayor Helpline launched by North MCD could not be reached as the number sustained the “busy status”. “Mayor’s Helpline 9643096430 is opened for citizens for the purpose of dengue prevention measures. If citizens feel that there is stagnant clean water and seems to be conducive for mosquito breeding or they want that focal spray should be done in and around their house then they may call at Mayor’s helpline which was earlier restricted to Sanitation and Corruption complaints only,” said Ravinder Gupta, North MCD Mayor, after opening the helpline for dengue complaints last week.

A host of East Delhi residents alleged that the EDMC helpline is grossly mismanaged. “You can’t swear by these helplines. All we can do is to ensure is to make the environment less conducive for mosquito breeding,” said Praveen Dwivedi, a resident of Laxmi Nagar.

When Millennium Post tried calling up the Delhi government helpline (1031) from two locations — South and East Delhi — it was found that this helpline is functional but the caller only receives a verbal instruction as to which Municipality is to be contacted to file a complaint. It was only a week ago that the Delhi government converted its anti-corruption helpline into a dengue helpline.