Dengue prevention measures only on paper, allege Bengaluru citizens

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Despite enough measures proposed to control the surge in dengue cases in the city by fogging and fumigation, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has been placed under the scanner for taking only temporary solutions, especially with rains pounding the city, residents lament.

On Monday, BBMP Chief Tushar Giri Nath said that around 140 people test positive daily in Bengaluru, on an average. The case count as of July 6 in Bengaluru is 3,815, and 776 in just the first week of July. Two, including an 11-year-old, are suspected to have died from dengue.

Dengue is caused by the bite of the aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnated water. Favourable weather conditions of 26 to 30 degree Celsius, in addition to predicted increased rainfall makes the government’s fight a tougher one.

Having seen fumigation and fogging of dengue hotspots, residents have complained that a proactive and planned approach is missing.

“Drains lie open and roads are inundated, providing these mosquitoes perfect conditions to breed in. Despite paying taxes and repeated demands to undertake drainage works, our area has become a dengue hotspot,” a resident of Whitefield Ward 103 complained.

Officials allegedly didn’t respond to repeated queries. The BBMP on Monday deployed 3,000 teams consisting of junior health officers, Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha), auxiliary nurses and midwives to carry out surveys in 25 lakh homes.

They have been instructed to carry out this in 15 days. Citizens along with health officers in a few areas have also come up with adding guppy gambusia fish in lakes, ponds and other water bodies. These fish, which come at a very small price, act as larvicides.