CUTTACK: Struggling with civic breakdown, Jagatpur Industrial Estate, the major small and medium enterprise (SME) hub of Odisha, is on the verge of triggering a dengue outbreak in the Millennium City this year.
With detection of two dengue cases, the district administration and Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) have decided to launch emergency measures to prevent spread of the deadly disease in the industrial zone as well as outward transmission. An intense sanitation and cleanliness drive would be conducted with involvement of local industry bodies and entrepreneurs to clear all mosquito breeding sites in the project areas.
“We have called a meeting of the industry bodies representing the estate, the CMC and other line departments on August 3 to chalk out a strategy to prevent any outbreak situation in the area. Mass awareness campaign would be launched to motivate individual entrepreneurs to keep their premises clean, particularly free from clear stagnant water and adopt proper waste disposal practices,” said Collector Girish SN.
The thrust on the estate assumes significance as industrial belts are particularly prone to harbouring breeding sites and fuelling outbreak. The first major outbreak in Odisha was epicentered at the industrial belt of Angul in 2011 and is said to have spread from there to other coastal and urban centres.
Inmates of the industrial zone have, however, blamed both the IDCO and CMC over the crumbling civic condition in the area. The IDCO and CMC are shying away from the responsibility of sanitation and provisioning of civic amenities to the estate that houses more than 550 units.
The drains and water channels in the zone are made in such haphazard manner that they have become major water harbouring sources. Roads are full of potholes and unplanned work has led to serious waterlogging conditions, the entrepreneurs alleged.
“We are paying annual maintenance charges to IDCO for civic amenities while the estate comes under Ward 49 of CMC. There is confusion over who actually should undertake the civic work.
The IDCO is apathetic to the situation while CMC has washed its hands saying it was not in its jurisdiction. At the end, the industrial estate is the sufferer,” said Odisha Industries Association (OIA) president Abani Kanungo.
The industry body on Thursday also announced that it would undertake a cleanliness and sanitation drive on its own.
All individual entrepreneurs would be sensitised on measures to be taken at their own units so as to protect them as well as workers, OIA secretary Rajesh Kanungo said.