New Delhi: Just across the wall near Yamuna Bank Metro Station, a community of around 200-300 people live scattered amidst dense foliage, broken roads, and swamps, a dangerous combination for the dengue-plagued Delhi.
Surviving the heavy floods that the city witnessed only a month ago, these residents claim that they have not seen any dengue prevention work in their vicinity.
As per the last Dengue reports, cases reported this year stand at 348, doubling each week, the highest in six years.
“There have been no Dengue Breeding Checkers or safai karmacharis here. You can see the water still logged from the flood,” said Gyanlal, a 50-year-old said while pointing to nearby water-filled areas. He had been forced to move his family to higher grounds on the road due to flooding, “The water has not been treated with any medicine for months,” he added.
Similar complaints echoed across the community as you walk closer to the Yamuna river from the Metro Station. Along with no efforts to prevent vector-borne diseases from affecting the community, the residents also said there had been no attempt to repair the damaged roads from floods.
Most of them are still living on the edges of these roads, since it is on a higher ground from their old abodes, which remain submerged in water. Closer to the river, rescue shelters also face the same situation.
Sarol Khan, a 32 year old shop owner, reasoned, “Workers have visited the metro stations. They probably could not come because the roads remained flooded for a long time”. When asked how long it has been since the water receded, he mentioned that it was very recent and there is still water logging closer to the river, only a few hundred metres from his home.
However, one resident claimed she had seen officials come on Sunday for the first time. “They came from the Yamuna bank and took pictures and notes about the swamps here,” said Naini, a 24-year-old resident.
In response to the residents’ claims, a senior official from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi told Millennium Post that DBC workers have been allotted to this region and have reported regular visits, especially since it is a vulnerable area. “We have not put any medicines, except chlorine, since the water is mostly clean.”
It has been just over two weeks since the MCD announced an emergency Dengue Prevention Plan in the face of rising cases of vector-borne diseases.
The city was divided into different zones, and a specialised task force comprising of safai karamcharis, nala beldars, Dengue Breeding Checkers (DBC), malis, Asha workers and sanitation workers was deployed in each of the zones to work on awareness, training and preventative measures against dengue, malaria and chikungunya, with notable campaigns targeted towards vulnerable areas like construction sites, parks and nurseries, official institutions and drains and water bodies.
The MCD had also claimed that over 3,000 DBC workers and 2,000 field workers are currently working towards breeding detection and destruction in all zones.
