Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Congress and BJP on Thursday came down heavily on the state government for its failure to curb the outbreak of dengue in the capital city.
At a press briefing, Congress leader Debasis Patnaik said even as Bhubaneswar continues to struggle with second wave of COVID-19, the outbreak of dengue in the city has triggered panic among the people.
While the Health Department has said that 482 people have contracted dengue, the truth is thousands of people in different parts of the city have been infected.
Blaming the gross apathy of Housing and Urban Development Department and Health Department, Patnaik said while the Housing and Urban Development minister is busy striking off his name from the FIR in a murder case, the Health Department has not bothered to take any tangible steps to prevent spread of the killer virus.
Lashing out at Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), he said the civic body, instead of cleaning up drains is busy collecting Holding tax.
“To whom will the citizens approach for redressal of their grievances as the civic body has no people’s representatives?” Patnaik questioned. He also sought clarification from the state government on the expenditure it has made to tackle dengue.
Protesting the gross apathy of state government, BJP Bhubaneswar District president Babu Singh said his party will launch a campaign in the city tomorrow. He said the party will take up the cleaning of drains in 12 zones and make people aware of dengue and its preventive measures.
Singh also urged the state government to set up a 24-hour control room with helpline numbers and testing centres.
Ruling out the allegations, Health and Family Welfare minister Naba Kishore Das said not only in Bhubaneswar, instructions have also been given to Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs) to strictly monitor the dengue situation in their respective districts and step up all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
On Friday, BMC health teams visited 5,178 households as part of dengue survey. A population of 21,498 has been covered. The source reduction has been done at 1,390 points and larva was found in 533 sources, stated a latest update by the BMC.
