The Chennai Corporation on Monday warned that it would invoke provisions of the Public Nuisance Act against officials who failed to keep office premises free of mosquito-breeding sources.
According to civic body officials, many of the office buildings including police stations continue to have breeding sources for mosquitoes in the city.
The civic body’s zonal officials of all the 15 zones, on Monday, organised coordination meetings with all the government departments as part of the action plan for the prevention and control of dengue in the city. The focus of the action plan is on ridding the city of mosquito-breeding sources, in order to prevent all vector-borne diseases, officials said.
The Corporation has also attempted to rope in the police, post offices, BSNL, Metrowater, health department officials at all levels, the Public Works Department, other departments and officials of the Integrated Child Development Scheme and anganwadi workers to work towards a dengue-free Chennai together.
The civic body on Monday asked other department officials including the police to prevent formation of breeding sources on their premises. “Many breeding sources such as tyres and damaged equipment have been identified on the premises of police stations and TANGEDCO offices. We have created awareness in this regard at the first meeting on Monday. The officials who participated in the meeting will bring an action-taken report next Monday,” said an official of the Corporation.
“All departments should keep their premises neat and tidy. They should understand that dengue-control is not the responsibility of the Corporation alone,” the official added.
The Corporation has formed three teams at the division-level that have been given the responsibility of clearing all sources of dengue. Team one will focus on cleaning all water-storage containers. Team two will be responsible for fogging operations and chlorination of water. Team three will carry out a campaign to clear dengue sources.
Caretakers of buildings will be made responsible for keeping their premises clean and free of mosquito-breeding sites. Since the Aedes aegypti mosquito breeds in a variety of containers, making initiatives for mosquito-eradication a people’s movement is key to tackling the menace, the official said.
