New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) Delhi Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney and some Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials were Wednesday allegedly manhandled by angry residents of south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area which has seen a surge in dengue cases.
Sawhney and MCD’s leader of the house Subhash Arya had gone to inspect the area along with officials but were forced to retreat after residents protested against the MCD and engaged in a scuffle with officials.
The local residents welfare association (RWA) started protesting as soon as the MCD team arrived and a scuffle ensued between them and MCD officials. The mayor who was caught in the melee had to be evacuated by security officials.
Speaking to reporters after the incident, the mayor said: ‘We are deploying 100 additional sanitation workers for Jamia Nagar area and 20 more domestic breeding checkers.’
‘Two vehicle-mounted fogging machines and 12 hand-held fogging machines will be deployed in the area to check mosquito breeding,’ he said.
Apart from this, MCD health officials will be sent to the area to test blood samples of residents for dengue.
The Mayor said that they were holding talks with the local councillor to transform a community hall into a temporary dengue health centre for the residents’ convenience.
‘Debris and silt strewn near accumulated rainwater and a drain, which belongs to Uttar Pradesh irrigation department, will be cleaned by the MCD,’ the mayor said.
According to the councillor of the area, there are about 500 suspected dengue patients admitted in hospitals and at least five deaths have occurred due to the vector-borne disease. Local residents have claimed that over 15 people have died.
MCD health officials claimed that two suspected dengue deaths and 28 cases have been reported in the two wards of the area.
The MCD has issued 45,000 notices to residents for water-logging and mosquito breeding. About 6,000 warnings have been issued to property owners, including 250 government offices.
