The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities will sit with senior Central government officials on August 1 to prepare a blueprint to carry out anti-larvae drives in their respective establishments.
This is the first time when such a meeting is being held to find out ways and means to combat vector-borne diseases.
The meeting will be chaired by Joint Municipal Commissioner. Senior officials of Metro Railway, Eastern and South Eastern Railway, Kolkata Port Trust, Postmaster General, Food Corporation of India and BSF and Army will attend the same. A meeting was held in the chamber of the Chief Secretary at Nabanna on July 7 to discuss the matter and senior officials of the Central government agencies had attended it.
Senior civic officials said Metro railway construction is going on in different parts of the city and water is being stored for construction purposes. It is not possible for KMC to keep a tab on each and every Central government establishments. Also, they have many housing complexes for senior officials as well. Now, to make anti-larvae drives effective, a joint roadmap needs to be prepared. KMC teams visit Central government establishments every year as a part of anti-larvae drive and often mosquito larvae are found and suggestions given as to how the drives can be conducted there. But KMC is clueless as to whether the drives are being actually carried out in those sites or not. KMC officials felt that the meeting will help to prepare a roadmap to combat vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given stress on conducting anti-larvae drives by all urban local bodies and accordingly, the Urban Development department has pulled up seven civic bodies for not carrying out anti-larvae drives properly. Over the past few years, dengue deaths have become a major concern for all states in the country.