KMC to involve Councillors to combat dengue

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will now involve Councillors in a greater way in the dengue drives across the city. The daily report about the findings of the health officers while undertaking such drives will be sent to the respective Councillors on that very day.

"Records about the daily findings of the dengue drives are available with the ward health offices and also in KMC's health department. However, in many cases, it is found that the Councillors are unable to keep a track of the data, often due to his/her busy schedule. So, from November, we will send the findings to the residents of the Councillors on the very day the drive is undertaken in his/her ward," Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh said.

The move by the civic body is to make the Councillors more responsible in keeping their wards clean which they feel will augur well in their fight against dengue in the days to come.

The health officials of the civic body have come across water accumulating inside discarded materials, construction sites etc in various wards. "The Councillor cannot wash his/ her hands of such things which is congenial to the breeding of mosquitoes," a senior official said.

The official further informed that in three KMC boroughs — 10,11 and 12 — they have come across a good number of stretches of vacant land that have turned into garbage dumps thereby encouraging aedis mosquitoes.

"We will write to the state government to take possession of such vacant lands which are lying in the same condition for years and the owner is not being found anywhere," he said. The civic body has also put up banners in such lands declaring them as dangerous in the sense of becoming a breeding ground of mosquitoes.

The KMC Health department is also initiating SMS-based attendance to ensure timeliness in its

department. "When a person starts his field work at around 9 am in the morning, he will inform his respective ward office by SMS in a designated number.

This will be forwarded to the borough office and accordingly to our central office. The attendance will be monitored at our weekly meeting every Friday," Ghosh said.