Minor dies of dengue in Bijoygarh, locals blame KMC for not cleaning area

Kolkata: With a dengue death in the Bijoygarh area in south Kolkata, the residents have accused the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) of failing to carry out proper cleaning, an allegation that has been refuted by the local councillor who blamed unmaintained locked-up properties for the rise in cases.

A girl, Dona Das (12), succumbed to dengue. She was a resident of Bijoygarh. Dona was a student in seventh standard at Jadavpur Girls High School. According to her family, she developed fever on Wednesday and tests revealed dengue the next day. She developed a stomach ache soon after and had to be hospitalised at MR Bangur Hospital on Saturday. However, she is learnt to have died thereafter in the Emergency unit of the hospital.

Residents of Bijoygarh have alleged that there are many more in the area who have contracted dengue and that the KMC is not carrying out any cleaning which is leading to the breeding of mosquitoes. According to them, bleaching is only done on the main road but lanes remain unattended to. Locals have also alleged that the councillor was intimated of the same but no action was taken.

However, the accusations were rebutted by local councillor Vasundhara Goswami who told the media that people also need to be aware and keep their premises clean. She said there are about three more reported dengue cases in the Jadavpur area — one behind the Bijoygarh market, the second one in Narkel Bagan and the third in Baghajatin area.

According to her, KMC is carrying out cleaning but people are continuing to throw waste on the road and back alleys. She also said that some locked-up properties in the area are also the reason for dengue cases. “These properties are not cleaned and during monsoon, rainwater accumulates in the garbage, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes. We are not able to access such properties for cleaning,” she said.

Further, dengue larvae were spotted at the premises of Bijoygarh State General Hospital where plastic water storage tanks were found piled up and where rainwater had accumulated. Sources alleged such tanks were used in Gangasagar Mela by the Public Health Engineering department which then dumped them here. Cases in Kolkata have almost reached 4000 while districts too are recording a rise in dengue. Villages in Hooghly have witnessed a rise in dengue cases. Other districts are Nadia, Murshidabad and South 24-Parganas.