KMC calls for large scale participation in rallies against dengue on Feb 2
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has urged citizens to take part in the rallies to create awareness against dengue, scheduled to be held on Saturday.
KMC officials requested the residents of all the wards through public address system to participate in the rally.
There will be 144 rallies, one in each ward, while the central rally will be taken out from KMC headquarters on S N Banerjee Road. The ward councillors will lead the processions that will be taken out in the wards, while Mayor Firhad Hakim will lead the central rally.
About 5,000 people are expected to join the central rally. KMC has invited Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and ministers including Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Sadhan Pandey and Shashi Panja to attend the procession.
Celebrities representing the cultural world and former Olympians, along with representatives of 13 NGOs have been invited to attend the central rally. The rally will move along Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Lenin Sarani, Wellington Square and will end at KMC headquarters via S N Banerjee Road. There will be colourful posters and festoons to create awareness against dengue.
Civic officials said that because of anti-larvae drives throughout the year and sustained campaigns, the number of dengue cases has been reduced to one-third. Drives are conducted throughout the year where civic officials and employees visit every construction site, institutional building, residential quarter and state-run college, university and hospital.
KMC has decided to launch the drive in three phases in 2019. The first phase will start from January and will continue till June. Between July and October, need-based drives will be carried out and follow-up drives will be held in November and December.
KMC has identified 18 vulnerable wards where stress will be given. KMC teams will visit the houses where people who had suffered from dengue in 2018 are staying and special drives will be carried out in those areas.
