MCDs making fewer house visits to check mosquito breeding

NEW DELHI: Municipal corporation workers’ door-to-door visits to check for mosquito breeding have reduced by 13% since 2013.

NEW DELHI: Municipal corporation workers’ door-to-door visits to check for mosquito breeding have reduced by 13% since 2013.

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Between January and September first week, 560 people tested positive for Chikungunya and 771 for dengue. There have been four dengue deaths this year, so far. Both diseases are caused by mosquitoes.

Last year, the Capital witnessed the worst dengue outbreak in 19 years with 16,000 confirmed cases and 60 deaths due to the disease.

Corporation data shows that Dengue Breeding Checking (DBC) workers visited 282 lakh houses till September 3.

The corporations employ field workers on contract during peak season to check mosquito breeding. They went to 324 lakh houses in 2013, 314 lakh houses in 2014 and 316 houses in 2015.

“We have only one third of the supervisory staff left to oversee the work done by DBC workers. The rest have retired now. Moreover, this year the data has been released four days in advance as compared to previous years,” said a senior health official from the north corporation.

Among the three corporations, the south body reported the maximum number of dengue cases — 367 cases. It reported 63 out of the total 560 chikungunya cases.

South corporation officials claimed that residents are unwilling to cooperate with DBC workers. “Workers visit the houses during the day when women are present at home. They don’t allow strangers to come inside and check rooftops,” said an official.

The three corporations issued identity cards to the 3,500 DBC workers to combat the problem. “Residents can ask the workers to show their identity cards for their safety ,” said a senior SDMC official.

“No one has fumigated our area. We are living in an unhygienic condition,” said Meenu Chaudhary of Sangam Vihar.