The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the city Government and civic agencies to give name of the officers who could be held liable to ensure that no dengue or chikungunya cases occur this year in the national Capital. As of now 86 cases of chikungunya and 32 cases of dengue have already been reported this year and the figure may go up.
A Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra asked the Government and the agencies to name senior officers who will certify that there will be no cases of mosquito-borne tropical diseases here and that authorities have taken all preventive actions.
The Bench said: "Who will give us the certificate that there will be no dengue this yearIJ Who will assure this courtIJ We are talking of life of people here. Can you permit 21st century Delhi to be reeling under malaria, chikungunya, dengue..."
The court said it wanted the senior officers of the authorities concerned to not just submit status report by sitting in air-conditioned rooms but to visit the field and do physical monitoring also.
"We don't want a status report, we want an inspection report," said the court.
It further said that a lot of hospitals in Delhi remain underused and there was need to increase the number of beds to deal with additional requirements of beds during outbreak of vector-borne diseases.
The court's direction came on two PIls accusing the Aam Aadmi Party Government and the three municipal corporations of not acting vigilantly and responsibly in tackling mosquito-borne diseases.
Expressing concern over the numerous deaths in 2016, it also asked the agencies to inform it about what preventive steps they have taken in comparison to last year with regard to dengue, chikungunya, and malaria.
As per status report of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), at least 86 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the national Capital this year even though the season of the vector-borne diseases had ended in December. Thirty-two cases of dengue have also been reported in the last four months, according to a municipal report released on Monday.
As many as 4,431 cases of dengue were reported till the end of 2016, according to the report by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation which tabulates the data on behalf of all municipal corporations in the city.
Out of the 86 chikungunya cases reported till April 29, 19 of these were recorded last month, while 34 were diagnosed in March. 20 cases were detected in January and 13 in February.
Six cases of dengue were reported in January, four in February, 11 in March and 11 in April.
Earlier, lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on April 29 had directed Delhi Government-run lok Nayak Hospital to keep beds ready for dengue and chikungunya patients in the event of an outbreak of the vector-borne diseases in the city.