Cityplus
New Ghaziabad, Friday, November 20, 2009
7
It's an alarming! Malaria toll at 300 M
alaria and dengue suspected cases have shaken the city. This year more than 300 malaria cases have been identified against 254 last year. District malaria officials say that the situation is under control and even the government has said that malaria and other water-borne diseases
occur during winter season and the exercise is only done under malaria control programme. To curb the mosquito menace and the spread of malaria and other communicable diseases, lakhs of rupees are 'spent' every year in the name of fogging. Apparently, the entire exercise remains 'on paper' only, because residents have a different Compared to story to tell. According to experts, last year, every year dengue and more malaria cases other water-borne dishave been report- e a s e s k n o c k d u r i n g October, as this is the best ed. It has erupted time for mosquitoes to due to weather breed. Actually, civic bodies should have been change. This year strictly alert from August more moisture is to December. During this season, maximum numregistered, lead ber of dengue cases are to mosquitos' confirmed but as of now breeding." no concrete action is —DR GYANENDRA MISHRA, taken to avoid the upcomDISTRICT MALARIA OFFICER ing vulnerable situation. Most of the people resid-
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SYMPTOMS
PRECAUTIONS
"Even the government says that malaria cannot be totally eradicated. This is the reason why all the exercise is done under malaria control programme. Frequently fogging is done and on complaints, actions are being taken." —DR KK TYAGI,
CITY HEALTH OFFICER,
GNN
Power department wakes up to cobble up its 'fault' F
inally the apathy of the Power Department has come to an end and action has begun to remove houses under high-tension wires. Recently the department has issued notices to several house owners. The issue was being taken up by Cityplus for the last two months. Recently it carried story in which it was revealed how policies and their implementation change with the changing of department officials. Initially the Power Department top brass were serious about the issue, but later on they forgot to deal with the menace. Now it has once again decided to cobble up its 'fault'. A few days ago, the superintending issued a notice on behalf of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) saying that houses built
under high-tension wires should be vacated soon. In compliance with the decision taken by city administration, the notice called upon people living in such houses to vacate
shivering with fever High fever in evenings. It happens within 24 to 48 hours after a mosquito bite.
for safety reasons but in the meantime top brass changed and the department even forgot to take any action to remove houses, build under hightension wires.
Earlier in a follow-up s t o r y, w h e n C i t y p l u s asked what action was being taken to remove the houses, Superintending engineering Arun Kumar said, "We do not have any
Avoid stored water. Avoid medicines like aspirin or dispirin. Try to cover the whole body. Keep the patient under a mosquito net.
ing in this area have similar complaints. BN Prasad of Indirapuram says, "We haven't seen fogging machines in this area for a long time. The increasing number of mosquitoes due to changing weather has become as a major problem for residents. It becomes very difficult to sleep at night." Children are the worst affected. For the past one week the number of children coming in city hospitals has increased.
In the wake of growing mosquitoes menace people of the area met GNN officials and told him about the problem. Despite this, no fogging has been done so far. Varun Kumar, a resident of Vaishali, says, "Three members of my family have taken ill due to viral attack. My little daughter has already been admitted to hospital and has red spots due to mosquito bite on her entire body."
"As of now 50 notices have been issued to householders in various locations like Pasonda, Arthala and Karhera for illegal construction under hightension wires. Concerned police department and top brass of electricity department also have been informed. The exercise to identify these kinds of illegal constructions is on soon more notices will be issued,"
power to conduct any drive against encroachers. We can only issue notices and file FIRs with the district police and if anyone is found guilty, we take stiff action. But as of now I do not know how many violators have been targeted." But after publishing the story action has been taken. Power Corporation has already written a letter to the police and also issued notice to house owners violating the norms. A few days after a mishap in Lajpat Nagar, power substation SDO Ravindra Gupta issued a notice to house owner. In this connection, a letter to SO Shahibabad, Assistant Director (Security) of Power Corporation has been sent for further action. According to Power Corporation officials, it is an offence to construct a house under such highvoltage electricity wires but most encroachments thrive under them. Indirapuram, Vaishali, Va s u n d h a r a and Kaushambi are the major areas where constructions have been raised to the level of wires.
—RAVINDRA GUPTA, SDO, LAJPAT NAGAR, GHAZIABAD.