State gears up to check dengue and chikungunya

Kolkata: State municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim on Friday wrote to chairmen of seven urban local bodies, urging them to take adequate measures to prevent mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya with the onset of monsoon.

 The monitoring team of State Urban Development Agency (SUDA), after house-to-house visits in areas under these municipalities, have found either larvae or factors prone to the larvae.

The minister has written to the chairmen of civic bodies in Rishra and Sreerampore in Hooghly, Baranagar, Kamarhati, Dum Dum and South Dum Dum Municipality in North 24 Parganas and also to the chairman of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to take immediate action and provide a feedback report.

However, in the letter to the chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality Pachu Roy, the minister pointed out that the SUDA team had observed larvae in the containers, puddle and small drain of several household premises under ward 13.

"It is observed that the team earmarked for house-to-house visit for ward 13 has not paid attention for source identification for larvae and its destruction," the minister stated in his letter to Mr Roy.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation team for vector control led by member mayor in council (health) Atin Ghosh visited Ballygunge ITI campus and found larvae only at the fitter workshop, which were destroyed. The team also visited South Point School and expressed satisfaction that both the institutions had done well to keep mosquito larvae at bay in comparison to what they had done the previous year.