NEW DELHI: On an urgent mention by a lawyer accusing the Centre, the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) of abject failure to deal with the dengue outbreak, the Delhi High Court on Thursday sought their explanation on Friday.

High Court advocate Rajeev Awasthi submitted before a Division Bench comprising Justices Vijender Jain and Kailash Gambhir that the two Governments and the civic body were caught unawares when the outbreak was reported in the city. They did not comply with the guidelines issued by the High Court in 1998, taking suo motu cognisance of the large number of dengue deaths in 1996, the lawyer said.

The court in that order directed that 10 major hospitals in the capital be fully equipped with equipment and facilities to deal with dengue patients in case of an outbreak; asked the Delhi Government to prepare a dengue control programme with regular budgetary provisions for taking effective measures to prevent an outbreak; and ordered the MCD and the New Delhi Municipal Council to conduct a regular survey of all localities.

Referring to warnings given by the World Health Organisation, at a conference in Pune in 1994, about an outbreak of the disease, the court then noted that there was negligence and dereliction on the part of the Centre.

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