Dengue surge in south Kolkata pockets

KOLKATA: Several pockets of the city have been witnessing a quantum leap in dengue cases in the past few weeks. On Friday, the number of dengue cases stood at 564. Even a fortnight ago, the number had not crossed the 400 mark.
Besides drone surveillance of the affected areas, KMC will take up a special prevention drive along some of the city's outfall canals, especially Tolly's Nullah as the areas along it have been witnessing a spurt in dengue cases.
The rise in dengue positive cases has been restricted to a few wards in south Kolkata and if not prevented now, the situation might go out of hand, said a KMC health department official. Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday held a meeting and asked the civic officials to combat the menace on a war-footing. Hakim and deputy mayor Atin Ghosh took stock of the situation in at least 10 south Kolkata neighbourhoods.
According to a civic official, dengue cases were on the rise in areas such as Alipore, Chetla, Kalighat, Kudghat, Haridevpur and Bansdroni. "We have noticed that the number of cases are going up in areas along Tolly's Nullah. So we have decided to use boats to identify and destroy the mosquito breeding sites," said a KMC health department official.
"Besides the civic health department, the drive will be jointly conducted by KMC's solid waste management and drainage and engineering department workers," said Hakim. The mayor also drew attention to vacant plots and locked premises where garbage was accumulating.
"We have asked our officials to take up a major cleanliness drive in areas where the dengue numbers were on the rise. If an owner of a vacant plot is found to be allowing garbage to accumulate, s/he will be penalized," said Hakim.