HYDERABAD: The dengue and viral fever outbreak has now hit the Secunderabad Cantonment. Residents here claim that SCB officials have not taken up a thorough and proper fogging of the area or improved its sanitation facilities.
People living in slums and residential colonies of the Secunderabad Cantonment area allege that there has been an increase in dengue cases here owing to lack of sanitation —range from open drains to uncleared garbage on roads — and that the SCB has not taken enough measures to curb mosquito-breeding before the monsoon season. They further claim that even after several reports of dengue outbreak in the city, the SCB has still not taken up fogging.
Durgam Murlidhar, a resident of Secunderabad Cantonment, said: “Due to the monsoon season, water has been accumulating at many stretches and in potholes. This is leading to mosquito breeding in the area. We have been repeatedly asking the SCB officials to take up the fogging work, however, they have failed us.”
Secunderabad Residents Welfare Association member, Satish said that ideally, fogging must be done almost every week, but officials have not even completed a single round of it.
Speaking about the panic among the Secunderabad Cantonment residents, Dr Manju Rani at the
Cantonment Hospital said that in the last few weeks, the hospital has seen a surge of patients from both urban and slum areas, complaining about viral fevers.
“As we do not have a fully-equipped lab to diagnose dengue, we look for symptoms and refer patients to the Fever Hospital,”she said.
‘Lack of funds posing hurdles’
SCB vice president J Rama Krishnan claimed that they were in the process of taking up various works, but due to the lack of funds and manpower they were not able to undertake the fogging work completely