When will authorities declare dengue an epidemic?

New Delhi, Nov 3: Severely indicting the Centre, the Delhi Government and the civic bodies, the Delhi High Court today wondered how many deaths would lead the authorities to declare dengue an epidemic in the Capital? A division bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir observed that due to the inefficieny of the authorities, so many people died of dengue fever.

''In spite of repeated pronouncements by this court after taking suo mottu cognizance in 1996, we do not comprehend why effective measures to prevent the outbreak of dengue were not taken,'' said the bench.

The court also asked the Centre to submit the details including the allocation of the funds on the Central Coordination Committee constituted to combat the epidemic.

Was the amount Rs 1370 crore, sanctioned by the govenment to prevent recurrence of dengue, spent in right earnest or not, the court asked, and sought details of the amount spent on the projects.

UNI