“Dengue has knocked, the government is sitting idle”: Rajeev Mehrishi
Chief Media Coordinator of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress, Rajeev Mehrishi, has warned the government regarding the arrival of dengue in the capital Dehradun, and that it should not wait for the situation to go out of control but should make effective arrangements for prevention of dengue from now on.
Mehrishi said that with the increase in heat, mosquitoes and flies are being seen in abundance not only in Dehradun, Haridwar, Rudrapur, Kashipur, Haldwani but also in the mountains. If this is the situation with the beginning of Chardham Yatra, then the situation for the next fortnight can be easily predicted.
Rajeev Mehrishi said that ‘the Uttarakhand government has not learned any lesson from the previous experiences when more than one and a half thousand people fell victim to dengue in Dehradun alone. He said that the issue of protecting public health is not the priority of the state government. This is exactly the kind of behavior that was seen recently in the case of forest fire. His cabinet ministers were busy campaigning but took no interest in extinguishing the burning forest fires. Only when the situation went out of control, the services of Indian Air Force and NDRF were taken, whereas by then forest wealth worth billions of rupees had been burnt to ashes. The rains last week saved the face of the Dhami government, otherwise the forests would have been burning till now.’ He expressed apprehension that perhaps the government was waiting for an opportunity in the disaster.
He said that ‘the same situation is visible in the case of dengue control. In Dehradun itself, due to the formal policy of the government system, the measures to control dengue are being implemented only on paper. The situation on the ground is very worrying.’
Launching an attack on the administration he said that ‘the State Health Secretary has issued a 20-point guideline for dengue control, but till now only paper horses are being run in this direction. After the instructions of the Health Secretary, instructions were issued to the DM, CMO, Municipal Corporation and civic bodies of all the districts but nothing is visible on the ground. ‘
He asked the Health Minister whether he was waiting for the situation to go out of control? Mehrishi said that the state government seems to be extremely careless in this matter and this carelessness is unforgivable. This cannot be forgiven in any way.
He said that concrete work needs to be done for the prevention and control of dengue and chikungunya diseases in the state. If the government and the system do not come into action within a week, Congress will start a campaign. He warned that the state government should not take this serious issue lightly but should start cleanliness and mosquito control campaign on war footing in all municipal bodies and travel routes with immediate effect, otherwise Congress will be forced to start a movement.
