District medical department said the three affected blocks are Madarihat, Kalchini and Dhupguri and the number of affected are likely to go up as many of the affected who are residents of remote village forests have not reported in the primary health centres.
Deputy chief medical officer, health, Debashish Mondal has gone to Madrapara and Kolchinpara in Madarihat block, which is one of the three affected one, for an on the spot survey of the situation.
The district school board has declared holiday for six days from tomorrow in Dhupguri block's Chamurchi forest villages and tea garden, among the worst affected areas, in view of the situation.
Madarihat block medical officer Debojyoti Chakraborty said 50 per cent of tea workers of Ramjhora and Makrapara gardens are affected and chikunguniya was spreading from there to nearby forest villages.
District Magistrate S Mohapatra said a medical team has been sent to the affected areas.
Aedes mosquito, which breed in stagnant water, are the vector for chikunguniya. The water is stored by the poor tea workers and villagers as there is no running water and has to be fetched from as far as 10 km away in some cases.
Tea garden authorities have failed to provide water to the workers and Chamurchi tea garden owner could not be contacted.
District public health enginnering department executive engineer Timir Bose said the water level in the area has fallen, which is the trend in the area in the summers.
Mechanical executive engineer Arup Bhattacharjee said pumping machine is being set up to draw up more water for supply to the villagers and would take two to three more days.
