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A late start to war against dengue

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI OCT. 21. The outbreak of the deadly dengue fever, which has claimed a dozen lives, has put the functioning of the Congress-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi under a scanner. What is more surprising is the failure of the Health Department of the Delhi Government to react promptly to the situation and take remedial measures.

Instead of putting the official machinery into action to deal with the situation when it had not assumed dangerous proportion, the officials of the Delhi Government put the entire blame at the doorstep of the Corporation. In fact, the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, raised the issue during her meetings with the officials and the Health Minister, A.K. Walia. Not only was the Chief Minister annoyed at the poor handling and late reaction of the authorities, but she was also learnt to have pulled up the officials and the Minister for not taking effective measures and waiting for the Corporation to wake up and deal with the situation.

On the issue of fogging machines, the Chief Minister is understood to have told the Health Department officials that instead of waiting for the MCD to order new machines or put the old ones into action, the Health Department should have made such purchases on its own. She stressed the need for the Department to have adequate infrastructure to deal with such situations, as incidents like this had become a regular feature in the Capital. The Chief Minister is learnt to have come down heavily on the Corporation also for sleeping over the issue and only waking up when it threatened to go out of control. Interestingly, one of the officials of the Corporation was reprimanded by the Chief Minister for suggesting that the MCD should make documentary films on the issue and show them across the Capital to educate the people about dengue. The Chief Minister felt that such an effort would take at least six months and by that time the damage would have been done and the ruling party would have to pay a heavy price.

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