If you happen to find mosquito breeding within your area and hoping to address your woes by informing 24-hour dengue helplines, you are in for a huge disappointment as helpline launched by the Delhi Government and three-civic agencies are nothing short of an embarrassment and are nearly defunct.
When The Pioneer called the Delhi Government helpline (1031) to conduct a reality check, it found that these helplines are functional but the caller only receives a verbal commitment from authorities that their call would be "forwarded to the concerned department."
A week ago, the Delhi Government turned its anti-corruption helpline at the number 1031 into a dengue helpline. "I called on the Delhi Government's dengue helpline after I found there was mosquito breeding near my house in Deoli. The official picked the call, asked for my name, contact number and asked about the area. He then said that my call will be forwarded to the concerned authorities and excused himself. But later I didn't receive any action or call," said Raghav Singh, a resident of Karol Bagh.
The situation is such that after the SDMC reported 575 dengue cases this week, highest among three MCDs, the North MCD reported 517 last week, while EDMC reported 241. Similarly, South MCD helpline too is not in good health. While the officials on the helpline picked the call and enquired about the nature of the complaint, no complaint number was received, let alone the implementation on the complaint.
Praveen Sodhi, a resident of Amar Colony who found mosquito breeding in his area said, "I called South MCD helpline but no action was taken.”