KARACHI, Nov 2: The City Council on Thursday urged the City District Government Karachi to launch a massive media campaign to create public awareness with the help of authentic data pertaining to the haemorrhagic fever and dengue.

A resolution adopted unanimously also suggested that the campaign should be launched on scientific lines.

It stressed the need for conducting a systematic campaign against malaria, dengue and other viral diseases in every town under the supervision and in consultation with UC nazims.

It also called for anti-malaria staff to be placed at the disposal of union councils and stressed on evolving a proper system for the distribution of insecticides/germicides.

The resolution lauded the steps taken by the city nazim in combating the virus and condemned the statement given by the federal health minister on the issue, describing it as “an attempt to absolve himself of the responsibilities by shifting blame on the city government.”

The council also termed the statement of the federal government spokesman and head of the concerned department “a deliberate act to provoke people of Karachi.”

It urged the federal government to provide the city and district governments of Sindh with necessary technical and financial assistance to control the virus effectively.

Earlier, the council resumed the discussion on the issue of dengue spread when it reassembled on Thursday with Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil in the chair. A number of councillors from both sides of the divide took part in the debate.

They included Asif Siddique, Abdul Jalil, Syed Waqar Husain Shah, Saeed Ghani, Rafique Ahmed and Sheikh Mehboob Rehman.

The treasury members defended the city government’s efficiency and lauded the timely and effective measures it took to tackle the situation arising out of the outbreak.

They said that all possible measures had been taken to provide relief to the people affected by the virus and particularly praised the free of cost tests offered by the government.

They pointed out that besides these facilities, fumigation had been carried out in educational institutions, mosques and other public places.

The treasury members also urged the opposition not to resort to criticising the city government for the sake of criticism. Rather, they advised it to extend full cooperation to the CDGK in this public welfare activity.

They emphasised the need for joint efforts to fight the haemorrhagic virus, saying that being elected representatives, it was also their responsibility to play their due role in providing relief to their electorates.

The opposition members reciprocated the sentiments by saying that they would support any measures taken by the city government if they were positive and in the interest of citizens.

In this context, they welcomed the city nazim’s decision about releasing fund to union councils, but complained that some town nazims were not cooperating with the UC nazims belonging to the opposition parties with regard to the fumigation.

Before winding up the debate, Nasreen Jalil told the house that City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal had especially came here to brief the house about the new strategy adopted by the city government in combating the virus.

Addressing the council, Mr Kamal announced launching of a “Neat and Clean Karachi” campaign soon and, in this regard, sought all UC nazims’ cooperation and active participation in it.

It was his second address to City Council members in a week.

“Today, Karachi is in the grip of dengue virus and we have to prepare plans right now to protect the metropolis from an alarming situation.”

Mr Kamal briefed the house about the virus attack, saying that it had been detected in many countries earlier but Karachi was hit last year.

He told the house that no vaccine for the virus had so far been developed. However, he added, there were only preventive measures that could help control the outbreak.

The nazim said we could only fight dengue and other such viruses by doing better planning and putting in coordinated efforts. He expressed his strong resolve to make the city neat and clean.

He informed the house that the strategy for fumigation campaign, launched some two months back, had now been changed.

Spelling out the new strategy, the city nazim said fumigation would be carried out in every street to strike hard on each and every mosquito habitat in order to effectively control the outbreak.

He said that in the new system, to be supervised by him, there would be an active role for all union councils to play. The aim should be making the fumigation campaign a complete success by running it in an effective and organised manner, he added.

He said a central pool for spray machines had been set up and these machines would be used by the administrations of the union councils so that they could launch the fumigation in an effective manner.

“Although, the fumigation drive had been undertaken in all towns twice after the monsoon rains, it did not give the desired results,” he acknowledged.

This prompted the city government to centralise the campaign and let the fumigation carried out by union councils in their respective jurisdiction, he said, adding: “We will have a fleet of 50 vehicles at our disposal to carry out fumigation in an entire town at a time.”

According to him, one machine takes 45 minutes to fumigate an assigned area and now, one machine can be used for three hours continuously.

He hoped that the new strategy would work and the results of fumigation campaign will start showing very soon.

The city nazim also made an impassioned appeal to citizens to make the “Neat and Clean Karachi” campaign a success by extending full cooperation to the city government and union councils in keeping their localities clean.