Social media push for anti-dengue drives

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will embrace social media in a big way to boost its dengue drive this year. People of the city particularly the young generation are very active on social media so planned use of the social media platform is expected to widen the civic body's reach in creating awareness. The step will help to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.

"We will start our campaigns on Facebook and Whats app and for this we have already started discussions with experts associated directly with these social platforms. We are in the process of preparing a strategy for our campaign," said Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh, who is also in-charge of Kolkata Municipal Corporation's Health department.

The Health department of KMC has already been undertaking drives to prevent mosquito-borne diseases in the city with special emphasis on visiting households which had witnessed dengue cases last year.

The civic body is armed with a map of those addresses across the city.

The team from the KMC visited Chatubabu Lane and Ananda Palit Road area under ward 55 which are dominated by slums. We have come across a number of vacant plots which are privately owned or belong to the Kolkata Improvement Trust (KIT) or WAKF land which needs to be cleaned up. We have identified the owners and will soon slap notices to them under Section 496 A of the KMC Act. We will be cleaning up the places but the owners have to pay charges against it," Ghosh said.

The KMC team spoke to patients who had dengue last year and advised them on how to keep their premises clean.

The team of KMC's Health department was accompanied by the ward councillor, borough chairman and

officials from the Solid Waste Management department of the KMC.