Sovan Chatterjee to lead dengue awareness rally on Jan 7

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee will lead a rally which will be held on January 7, to create awareness against dengue which is the part of a year-long programme organised by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

This is for first time in KMC’s history when awareness campaign against dengue is being launched during winter.

The Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim and other MPs and MLAs along with the celebrities will take part in the walk which will start from KMC headquarters on SN Banerjee Road. Chatterjee has sent invitation to people coming from all walks of life including the editors of newspapers to take part in the awareness campaign against the dreadful disease.

Atin Ghosh, member, Mayor in Council (Health) said that rallies will be held in all the 144 wards under KMC on that day. The Councillors will organise the rallies in their respective areas. There will be banners and posters to create awareness among the people.

Ghosh said because of global warming, the breeding season of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes had changed. “The seasons are changing fast and with them, so are the characters of the mosquitoes. To combat the situation, it is important for humans to change themselves to eradicate the disease.”

KMC used to launch anti-dengue drive and campaign after the monsoon season which was considered to be the ideal breeding season for dengue bearing mosquitoes. But as the situation has changed, KMC has taken up a year-long programme to control the spread of the disease.

It may be recalled that the senior officials of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme under the union Health Ministry had lauded Ghosh for KMC’s initiatives to control spread of the disease. Ghosh, along with KMC officials had visited the state-run and private hospitals and nursing homes, government offices and even Raj Bhavan as a part of anti-larvae drive.

The civic court had issued show-cause notices to at least 50 KMC doctors and staff of the health department on charges of dereliction of duty. Ghosh made surprise visits to the borough health offices and actions were taken against those who did not turn up for work on time.

Dengue clinics have been set up in different parts of the city and civic health workers are visiting flats and individual houses to check underground reservoirs and overhead tanks and steps had been taken in case dengue larvae were found there.

Residents have been asked to clean the containers where water is stored at least once a week along with flower pots and vases. KMC is successful in bringing down the number of dengue cases in the areas under its jurisdiction drastically.