RAWALPINDI, Oct 28: District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar on Monday sought help of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) lawmakers and office-bearers in stopping the spread of dengue virus in the city.

A senior city government official requesting anonymity told Dawn that a committee had been formed for the supervision of the anti-dengue spray in the city.

The committee consisted of MNA Malik Abrar, MPA Raja Hanif Advocate, PML-N city president Sardar Naseem, Malik Shakil Awan, Ziaullah Shah and women party members.

“A meeting with the PML-N members will be held on Tuesday to chalk out a plan to check the spread of dengue virus in the city areas.”

He added that the PML-N office-bearers were also asked to help the health department hire 100 lady health workers.

“The basic aim of contacting the politicians to supervise the dengue-related campaigns was that a large number of people in Rawalpindi have been affected by the dengue virus,” MPA Raja Abdul Hanif told Dawn.

He said there was no harm in involving the PML-N leaders to help the administration avoid the spread of the disease. He said a daily meeting would be held to review the anti-dengue measures being taken by the city government and its allied organisations.

“The provincial government has already allowed the health department to hire 100 lady health workers for indoor spray because the citizens do not allow male workers to enter their houses,” said a city government official.

“The vacant posts of lady health workers will also be filled on the recommendations of the PML-N leaders,” he added. The health department informed the city government that so far no candidate had filed an application to fill the posts of LHWs.

He said more than 300 dengue patients had reported to the three city hospitals during the last two months.

On the other hand, PTI president and MPA Arif Abbasi criticised the decision and said the PML-N provincial government was ignoring the members of the Punjab Assembly elected on the tickets of the opposition parties.

“All the seats of national and provincial assemblies except PP-14 were won by PTI but the administration contacted those who were defeated in the May 11 elections,” he said.

He said the city government had failed to provide healthy environment to the people. “Had anti-dengue fumigation been started in April and May, no one would have been affected by the dengue virus,” he said.