Ajay Raina
JAMMU, Sept 27: Notwithstanding the Health Department’s tall claims, people, in general seemed unhappy with the response of the Department to battle against the scourge of the vector-borne disease ‘Dengue’, to which 17 people have fallen prey since last fortnight.
Saying that some of the dengue cases in the city were “preventable”, many citizens are demanding that fumigation exercise be stepped up by Department. The people are complaining that “not enough” is being done by the Health Department to combat the health menace.
Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), which also supports Health Department for fogging by providing vehicles and men, is also somewhere responsible for the spread of this disease as dumps of garbage and stagnated water in lanes and drains can easily be seen almost in every area of Jammu, they said, adding that the cleanliness drives launched in the past and present time by the Corporation, seems to be merely an eye-wash.
“Well, the Health Department hardly sends anyone to fumigate the area. And, this year, with even so many cases, they are taking things lightly”, said 60-year-old Kanahiya Lal, who lives in Seoura area of Akalpur.
The number of dengue cases in the Jammu province has crossed 17 and the Health Department is not taking any serious step to bring down the rising graph of dengue, he added.
“JMC is not pressing its men and machinery to clear the heaps of garbage and stagnated water from the lanes and drains in various parts of the Jammu”, the citizens said, adding that the recently launched ‘Clean Jammu City Abhiyan’ is merely an eye-wash as these kind of drives were also launched earlier by the Corporation.
They further stated that the officers in the Corporation through this drive wants to remain in the good books of their bosses and when this drive will culminate, the situation will become same as it was in the past. There will be no visible effect of the drive in the time to come, the citizens asserted.
Romesh Kumar, a resident of Gho Manhasa, alleged that not enough is being done by the Health Department to combat this deadly disease.
“Some of these dengue cases were preventable. There was fumigation in my area last week, but this week I haven’t seen it happening. And, even if it has been done, Health Department needs to step up its efforts. What they are doing is not enough”, Ajay Sharma, a resident of Lower Roop Nagar said.
Bobby Kumar, a resident of Maitra area of district Ramban alleged that “no fumigation’ has taken place in his area. “I can tell you that Health Department is a total failure in dealing with this. So, is the State Government and the Centre in dealing with this menace which has claimed so many lives, many of which could have been saved”, Kumar claimed.
People in other parts of Jammu province including Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Kathua, Samba, etc reacted in a similar vein and also complained of not doing enough fumigation. They asked for ramping up of the measures on part of the Health Department.
When contacted, Dr Zaffar Iqbal, Veterinary Officer, JMC, told the EXCELSIOR that “The whole process of fumigation is being carried out by Health Department. We only provide vehicles and men to Health Department for the areas, which fall under municipal limits. The machines used for fogging belong to Health Department and the operators are also of the department”.
When contacted, Dr BS Pathania, Director, Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Jammu told the EXCELSIOR “The first round of fumigation has been completed in some Jammu areas. We have four machines, which are doing fogging in different areas. Daily fogging in all the areas of Jammu is not recommended because of the fact that it takes 7 to 10 days for larva to mature into adult mosquito which is capable of spreading the disease”.
“If a positive case of Dengue is reported from any area, the department carries out spray of insecticides around the 50 surrounding houses, from where the case got reported. We are trying to check any further spread of the disease”, he claimed.
The people residing in rural areas are being made aware by functionaries and Asha workers about the spread of this disease, Dr Pathania stated.
He appealed to the people to clear the stagnated water immediately as it is the main reason of spread of this deadly disease.
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