KMC to start drive against dengue in all its 144 wards

Kolkata: Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim expressed his displeasure over the absence of opposition councillors at a workshop on dengue at Town Hall on Saturday. All 144 councillors under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC ) were asked to participate in the workshop, but BJP and Congress councillors did not turn up.

"The KMC has learnt a lot from the nature of spread of dengue in the city this year. From the very beginning of next year, we will carry out awareness about do's and don't's of dengue in every single ward in the city under the leadership of our Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh who heads the Health department of KMC. The workshop today (Saturday) is meant for discussing the methodology of our Health department's activities next year to keep dengue in check. Any responsible councillor would have been a part of this workshop as it is his/ her responsibility to ensure that the people in his/ her ward stay safe and secure. They are more interested in featuring in the media rather than being present at such an important initiative," Hakim said.

Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh said that awareness among the common people is the main weapon for fighting dengue.

"Meetings will be held thrice in a week with borough chairmen, councillors and officials and thrice a week meetings will be held at our head office. The situation at the borough level will be picked up at the headquarters meeting and accordingly interventions will be made," Ghosh said.

Vacant lands emerging as breeding ground for mosquitoes have been identified as the major source of dengue. All such lands have been identified and assessee numbers have been assigned to these lands. Whenever, the owner of such land claims it to be his, he will have to pay the maintenance charges for such land.