Dengue cases: Civic commissioners asked to apprise govt daily

Amid spurt in dengue cases, Delhi government today issued notice to commissioners of all three civic bodies directing them to mandatorily apprise it on a daily basis about the steps being taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

The government has also warned the three MCD commissioners of strict action in case of non-compliance with the order.

"Urban Development Department, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, has issued notices to commissioners of all three municipal corporations to provide daily information about steps being taken by them to prevent the spread of dengue in the capital," said a senior government official.

The official said the mandatory notices have been issued under Section 485 of DMC Act 1957, adding that as per Section 42 of the Act, it is the obligatory function of municipal corporations to check spread of "dangerous" diseases in the national capital.

"All three commissioners have been asked to give such information about their preventive steps, like fumigation, checks of mosquito breeding, at 3 p.m on a daily basis. If they don't comply with order, government will take strict action against them," the official said.

Yesterday, the Arvind Kejriwal government had directed officials to set up 600 new beds at three hospitals, which are not-yet fully functional, in Janakpuri, Ashok Vihar and Tahirpur areas for fever and vector-borne disease patients.

According to government, these hospitals had no bed capacity and were just providing basic health services in their premises.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain recently directed officials to buy 1,000 new beds to accommodate dengue patients in government hospitals and these beds are a part of the 1,000 units directed by the health minister.

Three more persons have succumbed to dengue, taking the toll to 14 till yesterday, as hospitals across the capital continued to wilt under huge rush of patients while an embattled Delhi government has directed all medical institutions to urgently increase bed capacity and employ more doctors and nurses.