Mayor lashes out at Left councillors, denies dengue allegations against KMC

Kolkata: Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Thursday lashed out at the Left councillors after they alleged that KMC is suppressing facts about dengue in the monthly meeting.

"The initiative that the present board of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is taking to create awareness and prevention of dengue should be lauded by all. The councillors are holding door-to-door campaigns and the state government is constantly helping KMC in its drive against dengue. In case of the Board before 2010, not even 5 percent of work was done to fight vector-borne diseases," Chatterjee said reacting to a claim from Left councillor Mrityunjoy Chakraborty that the Health department of the civic body is suppressing the actual figure of dengue affected people in the city.

Mayor further reiterated that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself constantly keeps coordinating with the state Health department and keeps a tab on such cases.

According to the Mayor, currently, there are 732 people affected by dengue and 2,547 by malaria in the KMC area.

"Our government is a transparent government and we always give out the correct figures," Chatterjee said claiming that the number of people afflicted with dengue is far less than the previous years.

Talking about the steps taken to fight dengue, a senior official of KMC's Health department said leaflets have been distributed and billboards containing the do's and dont's to prevent the disease have been put up at different places.

"The Durga Puja committees have also been encouraged to carry out door-to-door dengue campaign," the official said.