Govt steps up anti-mosquito drive, serves notices to 386 violators, none fined so far

GURUGRAM: The district health department along with the MCG carried out anti-larval activities in a bid to tackle mosquito breeding around the city, and has sent notices to 386 people whose houses or surroundings had the presence of mosquito larvae.
Though the notices have been issued, the authorities claimed that this wouldn’t help prevent the recurrence as not a single challan has been issued despite existing provisions.A team of 24 health workers, 21 health inspectors and five field workers along with 20 MCG workers carried out anti-larval activities around the city and identified 386 places where the mosquito breeding was rampant. Based on this inspection, the MCG issued 386 notices. A senior official of the health department informed TOI that the power to issue challans, in this case, lies with the MCG.
Explaining the process an MCG official said, “The authority after identifying a premises where mosquito breeding takes place first sends a notice to the owner. After a few days, a review visit is made and if the conditions for mosquito breeding is found to still exist, the owner is issued a challan.”
However, the official added that often the defaulters do not let them enter the property when they go for a review visit. MCG’s chief medical officer Dr Asrudin said, “According to the MCG Act, we have the power to issue challans ranging from Rs 300 rupees to Rs 2,000 rupees in such cases. As of now, we have been mapping the areas where we are conducting anti-larval activities using geographic information system (GIS).”
Ram Prakash, head of the district’s epidemiology department said that larva is found even inside posh residential societies, especially on rooftops where empty containers are stacked. He added that finding access to the rooftops of posh condominiums is proving to be a task. According to experts, Gurugram could witness a major outbreak of dengue and malaria cases this year.
Dr Tapesh Bansal, a virologist and the HOD of the critical care (Internal medicine) at Paras hospital, said, “For several years, we’ve been seeing that these vector-borne diseases come in a cycle. While there is no sure shot way of predicting it, this year could see a major outbreak as the number of cases were minimum in the last two years.”