BMC plans ‘dry days’ in dengue fight

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), following its new commissioner Vijay Kulange’s unique idea, has decided to observeevery Sunday and Thursday as “dry days” to curb the spurt of dengue cases in the capital.
Under the initiative, massive awareness and sanitation drives will be carriedout on these two days in all 67 wards of the city. Since all sources of stagnant water,where mosquitoes breed, will be cleared with involvement of residents, sanitation workers and anti-larva squads during these drives, theproject has been named so. “Sunday has been chosen as of the ‘dry days’ as office-goers willbe at home then. Their involvement is necessary to contain the denguemenace. On Thursdays, sanitation drives will be conducted at government andprivate offices,” Kulande told TOI.
From the breeding sources, the civic body’s surveillance teams will detectthe Aedes mosquito larva to destroy its origin,besides keeping the nearby localities under watch. “Ward-wise sensitisation will be initiated on ‘drydays’. School students will also be made aware about the disease. A social media campaign will be launched too,” a BMC official said. The number of dengue-infected people has crossed 30 so far this month.
“Some north-zone pockets are reporting maximum number of cases. We will focus more on Niladri Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, Damana and Nayapalli during the ‘dry days’ drive,” said Antaryami Mishra, additional district urban public healthofficer.