80 notices issued to Rashtrapati Bhavan for mosquito breeding

New Delhi, Aug 26: The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has issued 80 notices this month to the Rashtrapati Bhavan after dengue mosquitoes were found breeding at various places at the sprawling estate.

"The Presidential Estate is huge and during the inspection heavy mosquito breeding was found at various places especially near the residential quarters of the Rasthrapati Bhavan staff. During this month, we have issued around 80 notices to various departments to check mosquito breeding on their premises," a senior NDMC official said.

The civic body has also constituted a four-member team after a meeting with the Director of the President's Estate to brainstorm ways and means to control mosquito breeding at Rashtrapati Bhavan at the earliest.

"The team consists of one member each from sanitation and horticulture units at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and Malaria unit of NDMC Health Department.

"This team will review the mosquitogenic conditions at various places in the President Estate and will help in precautionary as well as controlling measures," the official added.

The council had last week issued challans to four hospitals including AIIMS and Safdarjung, various government offices and a school here after dengue mosquitoes were found breeding on their premises.

"We had issued challans to four hospitals including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, RML Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital after their premises were found to be breeding ground for mosquitoes," the official said.

The Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs, Bihar Bhawan, Sikkim Bhawan and Uttarakhand Bhawan were issued notices by the NDMC for mosquitogenic conditions on their premises.

The council staff had also detected heavy mosquito-breeding conditions in five embassies including that of Ghana, Ethiopia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan, Ethiopia and the Czech Republic, but no challans have been issued to them as the civic-body doesn't have an authority to do so.

The action comes in wake of the rising figures of the total number of cases from the vector-borne disease which shoot to an alarming 530, with over 440 of them being reported in August only.

Two deaths have been reported due to this disease this year. The dengue cases in the city is up this year by 251 cases compared to what was recorded last year by this time.

"We have issued a total of 137 challans this season for mosquito breeding inside institutions and households and served 3215 notices.

"During the inspection, if the premises are tested positive for mosquito breeding, they are issued notices. But if no improvement is found in the hygiene conditions during the next inspection, the defaulters are issued challans," the official said.

Earlier this month, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had also issued 80 challans to government and educational institutions in the city, including JNU, DDA, DTC and PWD, for breeding of mosquitoes in their premises.

Dengue a vector-borne disease, is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.

Doctors say treatment is symptomatic with no specific cure, so if patients use pain medicines indiscriminately there is a risk of becoming resistant to these.

PTI