Dengue is on the rise in Bengal with more than 30,000 cases in the last two months and a few deaths, triggering not only a public health emergency but also a political war of words in the state.
At present, the hotspots of dengue are Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly and the state secretariat has given special instructions to all districts to be cautious about the mosquito-borne disease.
Another problem area that has emerged for authorities is the Jadavpur University campus and hostel. The Kolkata corporation has started a special drive in the university to kill dengue larvae and discussions are afoot about moving to online classes to tackle the menace.
Seeking to allay fears, the Mamata Banerjee government assured that cases were on the decline. Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said the situation will be under “full control” in the next few weeks.
“Dengue reached its peak in the state two weeks ago and it has started to decline gradually. It will decrease further in the coming days. So there is no reason to panic but we need to remain vigilant,” Dwivedi said as he urged people to go for blood tests only if they have a fever.
The assurance, however, has not cut ice with the BJP as Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari went to Swastha Bhawan on Tuesday along with 22 BJP MLAs but the delegation was not allowed inside.
Claiming that the disease was more serious than Covid-19, Adhikari said: “I went to Swastha Bhawan to give suggestions on tackling dengue. However, they did not allow the elected representatives and were only ready to let me in. Aren’t these MLAs public representatives? People are dying due to dengue but authorities are doing nothing.”
Responding to the allegations, Kunal Ghosh, Trinamool Congress general secretary, said: “Dengue is a problem but the government and local authorities are trying their best to counter it. Suvendu Adhikari is doing nothing but cheap politics. BJP is interested only in publicity.”
Earlier, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “The state is facing dengue menace and the TMC government is busy telling people about the chief minister’s recent visit to Spain. I am not a specialist but a common person can easily make out how laggard the state government has been in dealing with the situation.”
To add fuel to fire, the West Bengal Governor cancelled his visit to the United States to monitor the situation back home, while the Centre alleged that the state had not shared dengue figures with it.
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