Stagnant water and garbage remain scattered across Salt Lake, Baguiati, Ashwiningar and Chinar Park, under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), despite repeated pleas by the government and doctors to keep neighbourhoods clean to fight dengue.
“More than 400 dengue cases are being reported every day from these areas. Three dengue deaths have been reported from the BMC area so far this year,” said Banibrata Banerjee, mayoral council member in charge of the health department of the BMC.
A few days after a 14-yearold girl from Baguiati died of dengue, the area (Ward 10) where she lived was a picture of civic apathy.
On Thursday, this newspaper spotted pools of stagnant water as well as garbage dumped on the roadside in several places of Baguiati, barely1km from VIP Road.
The situation is similar in Salt Lake and Sector V. The drizzles the city received on Monday will only worsen the situation, many residents fear. Water will accumulate in garbage and potholes, creating conditions for mosquitoes to breed.
The Baguiati girl who died, Ditshya Ganguly, had been running a temperature since October 11. She was taken to a private hospital off VIP Road the next day and was shifted to a private hospital in Mukundapur after her condition deteriorated. She died on October 19.
Her death certificate mentions dengue shock syndrome. “Let alone vector-control teams, municipal teams are not even clearing garbage regularly, because of which there are pools of water,” said Biswanath Saha Pal, who lives in the same locality as Ditshya’s family.
Her father Debjeet Ganguly said all their family members were down with fever. Prakash Sardar, who runs a shop in the Baguiati AC market complex and stays in the locality, said at least a dozen of his neighbours had tested positive for dengue.
“We rarely find vector-control teams spraying larvicide in our area. Our entire locality is reporting dengue cases,” said Sardar. Pranay Kumar Ray, councillor of Ward 10, said residents should also ensure that water does not accumulate inside their houses and garages.
“Our teams are spraying larvicide and one team has been sent to spray larvicide around the house (of Ditshya),” said Ray.
