Mayor asks Councillors to hit the streets against dengue

Kolkata: Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Thursday directed Trinamool Congress Councillors to take up awareness drives against dengue more aggressively by taking to the streets. Chatterjee held a meeting with his party Councillors at the civic body headquarters and urged them to take up a positive campaign in the prevention of vector-borne diseases to counter the canards of the Opposition who according to the Mayor are trying to create unnecessary panic among the people.

Chatterjee also announced a fund of Rs 10,000 each to all Councillors of the 144 wards for aggressive campaigns to counter dengue. "The Opposition are trying to fish in troubled waters. They are doing politics with dengue. I will urge them not to create unnecessary panic among people. There has been a tendency among them in branding other diseases as dengue. We will see to it that the funds allotted for fighting the disease is utilised properly," the Mayor said.

TMC Councillors of all wards will take to the streets on Sunday and initiate dengue campaigns. "Mayor has told us that a single death due to dengue is not desirable and things should not be taken lightly so we need to be more vigilant and lead the door-to-door campaign undertaken by the civic body from the front," a Councillor who attended the meeting said. The Councillors were handed over leaflets on dengue awareness after the meeting.

Chatterjee said that the health department officials of the KMC are keeping a close watch at the under-construction buildings of vacant lands that have been emerging as a breeding ground for Aedis mosquitoes as water often remains accumulated at such places. "We are serving notices for cleaning up and if it is not abided by, we are going to the extent of lodging FIRs," he said.

The Mayor also pointed out the improvement in the infrastructure of KMC's health department after the TMC board took over. "There were no dengue kits earlier. Now, there is no dearth of such kits. There are dengue detection centres and doctors in every health clinic. The dengue-affected figures have also gone down over the years," he claimed.