Little respite

Even as the dengue menace continues to rage through Cuttack, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation seems to have done precious little in carrying out effective sanitation drives in the city to contain the spread. Many colonies in Sikharpur, Kesharpur, Gamandia, Jobra, Chaudhary Bazaar, Pithapur, Rajabagicha and several other areas present pictures of overflowing garbage bins and stagnant water that are now turning into breeding grounds for mosquitoes.While sanitation on the main roads is properly maintained and pavements covered with layers of disinfectants, the situation is bad in lanes and by-lanes of many areas. Garbage on some roads including the area in and around Chatra bazaar and stagnant water in the colonies like Gamandia and Kesharpur have turned conditions unhygienic in the localities.“Residents in the Kesharpur locality are now a worried lot. Authorities did not bother to spray disinfectants when the dengue scare hit the city, we now urge them to take up some precautionary measures keeping in mind the dangers of the disease,” says Md Ayub Ali, a local medical practitioner.A resident of Jobra, Priyabrata Mohanty said, “Sanitation in our area is in complete shambles. We have made repeated complaints to Cuttack Municipal authorities but to no avail. Even after the outbreak of dengue, neither mosquito larvicide oil has been sprayed in drains nor fogging started in the area to check breeding of mosquitoes.” In many areas, drains and waterbodies are choked, but there is nobody to clean them. The garbage remains without being disposed of for several days making conditions ideal for breeding of mosquitoes.Only on Sunday, people of Jagatpur carried out a massive bush-cutting drive in the Shivapuri area and cleaned roads in the vicinity as the Cuttack Municipality failed to do so. Many collected trash, while few carried out bush-cutting and cleaned the stagnant water in the area. “A dengue patient has been detected from this area and despite this, the civic body has not carried out the sanitation drive at all. So we decided to carry out bush-cutting and also removed the stagnand water,” said Bikash Rana, a resident.The problem of water  stagnation is more in the unauthorised colonies and slum clusters where there is no proper drainage system and no scope to pump out the rainwater. This coupled with the negligible primary health care facilities in these pockets might prove to be disastrous.The Cuttack Municipal Corporation authorities, however, refute the allegations. They claim initiatives have started to curb the spread of the disease and streamline sanitation works.City Health Officer Swapneswar Gadanayak informed that a massive cleanliness drive has been started in the city. Besides trimming of bushes, emphasis is being laid on creating awareness among people about the situation. As a part of this, two teams have been stationed at the Badambadi bus stand and Cuttack railway station who are organising awareness camps on dengue. This apart, Municipality staff are moving from door to door to distribute leaflets on dengue control measures.“Since last five days, unused and broken tyres are being collected and safely buried at Chakradharpur, around 30 km from the city, as these are one of the major sources for water stagnation. As many as 10 truck loads of tryes have been destroyed till today,” Gadnayak said.Sanitation measures have also been intensified. While the  city roads are being cleaned by civic body sweepers twice a day, mosquito larvicide oil is being sprinkled in all drains, the health officer added.The Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited has been asked to deploy machines to disinfect ponds and other water bodies to control mosquito breeding.Till Tuesday evening, the number of dengue positive cases detected in the Cuttack city stood at 38.