Asok, Deb row on dengue

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 3: Siliguri mayor Asok Bhattacharya today instructed representatives of Kali Puja and Chhat Puja organising committees to create awareness on the prevention of dengue.

The mayor said there were 25 cases of dengue reported in different wards of Siliguri Municipal Corporation in the past four months. He has also requested the puja organising committees to maintain cleanliness at pandals and ghats.

Gautam Deb, the north Bengal development minister, who held a meeting on combating dengue with officials of different departments, blamed the civic body for poor conservancy work and said his department was ready to take the job of clearing waste if the civic authorities allowed.

Bhattacharya, however, rejected the offer and said civic issues should be left to the SMC. "After getting the information of 25 dengue cases from different parts of the civic area, I have decided to request all Kali and Chhat Puja organising committee members to spread awareness on dengue preventive steps through banners and posters on puja premises. Although there were 25 cases of dengue reported from the SMC areas in the past four months, there is no need to panic as all the patients have been released after treatment. But to prevent further spreading of dengue, I have taken the initiative," the mayor told reporters at SMC this afternoon.

SMC sources said there were more than 500 Kali Pujas organised in the civic area and over 100 Chhat Puja committees. Sources in the Darjeeling district health department have said that the chief medical officer of health has called a meeting regarding dengue with health workers and representatives of the civic body at Siliguri tomorrow.

Deb, however, said the civic body had failed to clear waste in SMC wards and this would cause problems during Diwali. "It is apparent that the civic body has failed to resolve the problem of garbage disposal in Siliguri and so, if they are unable to manage it, the civic authority can tell us and our department will provide necessary support to them to clear it," the minister, who is also the chairman of Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority, told journalists in his office this morning.