RAWALPINDI: Punjab government has asked all municipal corporations, tehsil municipal committees and district councils to appoint health inspectors to take action against private and public property owners found not adopting anti-dengue measures.

A senior official of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) told Dawn that the civic body had started checking the violators. He said the inspectors would be appointed after getting approval from the elected house.

He said the government had issued new regulations for the health inspectors who can check public private places or commercial outlets and remove or destroy trash such as bins, bottles and tyres as well as any other articles that could hold water.

“If the owner cannot dump the trash properly which may cause breeding of dengue mosquitoes the inspectors will impose fines and lodge an FIR against them with the permission of the area magistrate.”

The official said the health inspectors would direct the building owners to adopt measures to avoid the spread of dengue virus by controlling the mosquito breeding sites.

Action ordered against any building owner for not taking steps to check spread of dengue virus

On the other hand, the district administration and the RMC have failed to adopt precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the dengue virus and left the work on the health department.

A senior official of the district administration said maintaining graveyards and public parks was the responsibility of the civic bodies but the officials concerned did not work on these areas despite the start of the dengue season.

He said there were more than 40 graveyards in the city but none of them was cleared from the dengue mosquitoes.

“In the Dhoke Ratta graveyard, water has accumulated near Leh Nullah and the RMC failed to spray anti-dengue medicines there.”

He said the graveyard was surrounded by thickly populated area where the dengue virus could spread among the residents.

Meanwhile, more than 25 dengue patients were admitted to the three government-run hospitals in the city, including eight to the Holy Family Hospital.

“Two of the patients belonged to the Rawalpindi city while the remaining six came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining areas,” said Dr Haroon Rahim, the focal person for dengue ward at the HFH.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017