Dengue team manhandled, abused in Hoshiarpur district

Our Correspondent
Hoshiarpur, June 27

Under a dengue prevention and awareness drive, special awareness activities are being carried out by the district administration to protect the public from dengue along with Covid-19.

While special duty related to corona is being done by the Health Department, a dengue investigation team of about 50 volunteers has also been deployed by the department. Along with surveying houses by these volunteers, awareness of dengue is also being spread. While doing this, a team conducting survey had to face resentment at Panjpipli area of the city. The team was tracing larvae at a houses in the area. According to sources, larvae were found in several houses. The team found larvae at a house and said earlier also larvae were found in the said house and the residents had been reminded time and again to keep their cooler clean and prevent water-logging but to no avail. The Municipal Corporation employees in the team challaned the house, but residents of the said house with the help of other residents of the street opposed the team. The team was reportedly manhandled and the members were reportedly abused and pushed restricting them to conduct the survey. They then informed District Epidemiologist Dr Shailesh, who in turn informed the DC about the incident.

On the DC’s directions, a police team was rushed to the spot. The police controlled the situation and all houses, where larvae were found, were challaned. The team also had to face resentment of residents of Street No. 4 in Shalimar Nagar on Friday and they were reportedly abused and stopped from conducting the survey.

After this Deputy Commissioner Apneet Riyait in the evening issued strict instructions in this regard. She said people must cooperate with the staff doing duties related to Covid-19 and dengue and if non-cooperation is reported by the teams, legal action would be taken against violators under the Epidemic Disease Act. She said everyone’s cooperation was needed in this difficult time, so that along with winning the war against coronavirus, prevention of dengue can also be made sure. She said health facilities are being provided by the Health Department and the staff are conducting the survey only for the safety of people in general, so any misconduct would not be tolerated.