CUTTACK: Even as dengue cases continue to rise in the city, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) seems oblivious to ways of addressing the menace. Unwanted vegetation on roadside, streets, lanes and over drains provide ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes but little has been done by the civic body to clear them.
The CMC claims that it carries out bush cutting and cleaning of localities across the city regularly but the ground reality is far different. In fact, the civic body seems to act only when its negligence is highlighted by media. TNIE had reported the plight of locals residing near Kala Bikash Kendra (KBK) road in the city where a drain was left uncovered by the CMC, on July 16.
The civic body had failed to cover the drain with concrete slabs which were kept on the roadside narrowing it down. After another report on the matter was published on August 18, the CMC finally acted and placed concrete slabs on a portion of the drain on one side of the road under Mukhyamantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan (MUKTA) Yojana. But this did not end the sufferings of the residents of nearby localities as the civic body has not yet cleared unwanted vegetation from the roadside.
Laxman Nayak, a local said bushes on the roadside are yet to be cleared. “The situation has worsened to the extent that it is impossible to stay at home without using mosquito repellent even during afternoons,” he said. City health officer Satyabrat Mohapatra said the civic body has started clearing bushes by engaging two workers in each ward since August 2. While the task will be completed in all 59 wards of CMC within two months, bushes on the side of KBK road will be cleared within 4-5 days, he said.