BHUBANESWAR: As dengue count in the State Capital is rising alarmingly, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday decided to inspect public and private offices, educational institutions and commercial establishments if preventive measures are in place to contain spread of the vectorborne disease.
The civic body warned that those failing to comply with the government advisory on dengue will be penalised and prosecuted as per the law. As per BMC reports, dengue count which was 235 till July 21 increased to 275 on July 22 after detection of 40 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Over 50 cases have been reported from Niladri Vihar alone and areas like Chandrasekharpur, Sailashree Vihar, Kalpana and BDA colony are equally affected. The cases have been reported from over 40 places in the city where BMC had identified close to 438 breeding spots with larvae and destroyed them last week. With the situation turning grim, the civic body has now urged the public and private offices, educational institutions to follow BMC order scrupulously.
“All heads of government offices should ensure that there is no stagnant water present on their office premises including roof top,” stated Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh in an order and asked private offices, factories and industrial houses to take similar measures. Police stations in the city were also asked to identify potential sites including seized vehicles that could turn into breeding grounds.
The vehicle repair shops, garage owners were directed to cover tyres and prevent stagnation of water. Parks in the city that have remained closed for Covid-19 will also be inspected regularly. The BMC also urged the resident welfare associations (RWAs) and housing society members to raise awareness among residents to prevent breeding of mosquitoes.
Special focus on schools
Collector Sanat Mohanty who convened a meeting with the CDMO and officials of BMC, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, School and Mass Education department recently, has asked the education officers and the BMC to coordinate and take measures for immediate cleaning of campuses and elimination of mosquite breeding points in and around the school boundaries in the Capital city before July 26. The schools will also designate an official who will ensure inspection of the premises to eliminate potential sites of breeding on a daily basis.
The State Capital has around 194 schools, including 134 private schools, within the jurisdiction of BMC. Many of these schools will reopen for Class X and XII from July 26 and Class IX from August 16.
Authorities are worried that if bush cutting, de-weeding is not done and possible breeding spots are not identified and eliminated, it could lead to dengue infection among the school students.