The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) is battling shortage of staff and equipment to control the spread of dengue and chikungunya, the Opposition alleged in the House on Thursday.
Leader of Opposition, Aam Aadmi Party’s Ramesh Matiala, said that the number of dengue and chikungunya cases had hit a record high in the Capital because the civic body had just about 1,171 domestic breeding checkers (DBCs), which is way less than the requirement. He added that over 600 positions in the Malaria Department were lying vacant.
Lack of basic facilities
“The workers are not given basic facilities like proper wages and accidental and health insurance. How can we expect them to work efficiently without basic benefits,” said Mr. Matiala.
The AAP councillor said that two months ago the corporation had sanctioned hand-held devices for the DBCs to maintain digital records of checking. However, he claimed, DBC workers in his area complained that a lot of these tablets were not working while many of them didn’t know how to operate them. The issue of vector-borne diseases was taken up for the half-an-hour discussion and the short notice by the House on Thursday.
Seeking efficiency
The Congress, which criticised the BJP for non-availability of fogging machines in several wards, also alleged that in many areas DBCs were being appointed on the recommendation of local councillors, and that they were not reporting for work.
Congress councillor Ved Pal demanded that a mechanism be put in place for monitoring the workers. “For better efficiency, the DBCs should not be assigned duties in the ward they live in,” Mr. Pal said.
He also said that door-to-door inspection was seasonal work with employees working for only three months in a year. Maximum efficiency should be ensured in this period, said the councillor.
