It appears the municipal corporations waited for people to succumb to the deadly dengue before getting down to action and start fogging operations. According to the MCD reports, the corporations began fogging on September 1 this year, by that time as many as 831 dengue cases and two deaths were already reported. What comes as a shock is that the municipal agencies, which are authorises to control the vector-borne disease, carry out fumigation only after dengue cases start mounting while the breeding of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes begins with the onset of monsoon.
According to the official data, 19 dengue deaths have been reported so far taking total number of cases to 2,000. The data highlights that North MCD recorded 352; South and East MCD registered 220 and 73 cases respectively each till September 1. Moreover, North Corporation Health Department conveyed that last year fumigation was not carried out as the cases of dengue weren’t high enough.
According to officials, the MCD does not have a regular fogging programme and is done only after the dengue cases reach a certain number. “This time fogging process began on September 1 in North. Outdoor and indoor fumigation is carried out depending on the number of cases reported from those areas,” said AK Bansal, NMC health officer.
Municipal health officials are also of the view that fumigation is ineffective to put an end to dengue outbreak. Fogging only kills the adult mosquitoes and not the larvae.
North Delhi Mayor Ravinder Gupta said the fumigation programme has been intensified in areas with higher number of cases. “We are taking all possible measures to deal with the increasing number of dengue cases, staff at the fever clinic have been increased to treat more number of dengue patients efficiently; and more technical staff have been deployed in pathology laboratories,” he added.
On fumigations’ effectiveness in outdoors, Gupta said, “People panic when cases of dengue are reported and thus create pressure on us. But fogging does not work out in open areas as the smoke gets mixed with the air in a few minutes. Windows and doors should be kept shut for a while after smoke seeps through the houses to have some effect.”
EDMC Standing Committee chairperson lata Gupta said the councillors are working with Residents Welfare Associations to tackle dengue in East Delhi which has reported the least number of dengue cases. “We are duly carrying out fogging in areas and took other preventive measure months in advance,” she added.