RAWALPINDI: The district administration on Tuesday claimed to have cleaned graveyards and junkyards and checked tyre shops to prevent spread of dengue virus.

Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and district administration officials informed the meeting that the cleaning of shrubs and plants in 150 graveyards by the District Council and 75 graveyards by the municipal corporation has been completed, which has helped in controlling larva breeding sites.

In some graveyards, mostly people not RMC and the District Council cleaned the shrubs near the graves of their near and dear ones on Muharram 9 and 10 as it was a tradition in the region that people repaired the graves these days.

Punjab Caretaker Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Care Dr Jamal Nasir was presiding over a meeting to review arrangements for anti-dengue drive along with Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaquat Ali Chattha.

Over 200 graveyards cleared of shrubs

The minister said that violators of dengue SOPs will be dealt with iron hands. He directed all departments to make their performance 100pc in the next two weeks as strict legal action will be taken against those who are found negligent in the anti-dengue campaign.

In this regard, a show cause notice should also be issued to the officials involved in the bogus activities reported here.

Taking notice of the absence of the labour department, Dr Jamal Nasir directed the suspension of the director of labour and said that dengue is a national cause in which such negligence will not be tolerated.

Dr Jamal Nasir further said that the heads of all departments should once again read and understand the dengue SOPs.

He directed the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company chief executive officer to spray insecticides every other day in 3,400 garbage bins across the city and to complete the proposal of constructing at least three transfer stations in the city.

Speaking on the occasion, the commissioner said the grubbing work of 150 graveyards by the District Council and 75 graveyards by the Municipal Corporation has been completed, which has helped in controlling larval breeding sites.

Apart from this, due to the timely desilting of the Leh Nullah, the favourable environment for dengue larvae had also reduced due to the drainage of rainwater.

He said 102 encroachments on Leh Nullah and 79 encroachments on the tributaries were identified which are being removed.

The anti-dengue campaign continues throughout the year, yet if we are not able to control it, it will be our incompetence.

In this regard, he said that we had to standardize our field activities practically by leaving paper work aside.

He said that a special team of third party validation from Lahore has reached Rawalpindi which will soon give us a detailed report in the light of which the institutions and officials guilty of negligence could be held accountable.

The commissioner further added that although the number of confirmed patients in Rawalpindi is currently 37.

However, the confirmed cases found in the nearby areas may pose a threat to us as well, so all our precautions should be taken. He directed that a special dengue surveillance should be conducted in the junkyards and graveyards within the district limits and an integrated system should be set up for household indoor and outdoor survey and activities.

Apart from this, he said ensuring the availability of required treatment and medicines in the hospitals, necessary steps should also been taken by the health department to generalize the use of mosquito repellents and special fogging in order to identify hotspots and destroy larvae.

On this occasion, while giving a detailed briefing on anti-dengue activities, Health Department officials stated that till now five cases were reported from CTC Gulistan Colony and eight cases from Chamanzar so these UCs were declared as high risk.

The reason behind this rise is identified and desired action is being implemented there.

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd, 2023