With the dengue, malaria and chikungunya season nearing, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi government to lead by example in preventing the menace.
Suo motu cognizance
The court took suo motu cognizance of a media report on how the agencies have been busy passing the buck rather than taking concrete action to prevent the spread of the vector-borne diseases, which claim multiple lives every year.
A Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal asked the Delhi government to lead by example in preventing the spread of diseases this year.
“Let this year not be a repeat of what has happened in the past,” added the Bench. It also advised the Delhi government to use its mohalla clinics and to ensure that sewers are cleaned to prevent the spread of the vector-borne diseases.
When the Delhi government submitted that all the agencies concerned needed sit together to address the problem, the Bench said, “One expression comes to mind — lead by example and others will follow”.
The court asked the government and the municipal corporations to come up with measures to address the problem.
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had highlighted many gaps in the fight against the mosquito-borne diseases.
Awareness campaigns
The report highlighted how the civic agencies had spent ₹109.43 crore between 2013 and 2015 on domestic breeding-checkers without supervision of the work. It had also criticised the Delhi government for spending ₹10.04 crore during 2013-15 on dengue awareness campaigns following its outbreak.
The court had earlier stated that the problems of dengue and malaria can be checked, after advocate Shahid Ali moved court against the alleged failure of the civic agencies in this regard.
