Centre’s establishments under KMC radar for guideline ‘violations’

In the wake of rampant violations of dengue guidelines, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has laid emphasis on taking violators to municipal courts, which includes Central establishments that are allegedly not paying heed to repeated warnings.

Several KMC councillors have complained to the Mayor that some establishments under the Central government are rampantly violating guidelines. Complaints have come against Coal India, Railways, National Library and Kolkata Port and Army.

Councillor Jui Biswas said despite issuing several warnings, Army camps and quarters in New Alipore continue to violate dengue guidelines. About 10 cases of dengue were detected in one pocket. Most of the drainage systems in these establishments are choked and no cleaning takes place, paving way for breeding of mosquitoes. Similarly, she alleged that waterlogging continues in the Railway siding area due to the area’s low level. She alleged that whenever asked to fix the problem, the Railways say that elevation work will take time. Illegal occupancy in these Railway lands has made the problems worse.

Similarly, councillor Anindya Kishor Routh alleged that several damaged cars remain parked near Coal India headquarters. He said water is accumulating inside these vehicles, creating a breeding ground for dengue mosquitoes. Similar complaints were leveled against the National Library. A KMC official said a case has already been filed against this Central establishment in municipal court.

The official added that this year about 85 cases have been filed already in the municipal court for violations of dengue guidelines. About 5,000 notices under Section 496 have been served. The Health department is also making a list of how many more cases can be sent to the municipal court.

Mayor Firhad Hakim said included in this list are several closed factories, such as Jessop and Dunlop. Atin Ghosh said even after serving a notice under Section 496 of the KMC Act, if the violation continues, then immediately a case has to be filed in the municipal court.

Meanwhile, the state Health department held a virtual meeting with the CMHOs in all the districts, asking them to open fever clinics in all districts.

The rise in dengue cases in Howrah, some pockets in North 24-Parganas, Murshidabad and Nadia has become a concern for the Health department. All the hospitals will have to open round-the-clock dengue test clinics.