RAWALPINDI: Failing to strengthen its own operations and removing the breeding sites of the dengue larvae, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has come up with a novel idea of passing the buck to the citizens by filing FIRs against private house owners within whose premises the board would detect the dengue larvae.

This was decided at a meeting of the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) and the RCB on Tuesday.

The move comes after five dengue patients emerged from the cantonment areas and the authorities decided to blame the residents for not adopting safety measures.

However, it is the responsibility of the health department and the CDGR to conduct sprays and fumigation in the district after heavy rains and ensure that all rainwater is drained which can provide a breeding habitat to dengue mosquitoes.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vice-president and former district nazim Raja Tariq Kayani told Dawn that the provincial government had failed to remove water puddles from the metro bus project construction sites which had become a breeding ground for the dengue mosquitoes.

Civic body does not have the authority to file such cases nor are there any laws

“First, an FIR should be registered against the provincial government for providing a breeding ground to dengue mosquitoes along the metro bus project sites. These sites have become a public nuisance.”

Mr Kayani said the CDGR and RCB had no authority to launch police cases against the residents. “Firstly, the civic bodies should be asked whether or not they fumigated the houses under the local government ordinance before the monsoon,” he stated.

“The attitude of the people towards anti-dengue safety measures is very casual. Despite issuance of warning, private houses and commercial outlet owners have failed to remove stagnant water in pots, tyres and rooftops,” said Additional Cantonment Executive Officer Shakeel Anwar Jappa while talking to Dawn.

He said the district environment officer had warned the traders in Gowalmandi to remove abandoned tyres and cover water storage tanks, but they did not comply.

The RCB launched various awareness drives in Gowalmandi and informed the people about the safety measures, he claimed.

“Obviously, cases will be registered against the owners of those houses where dengue larvae are found in a large quantity,” said Mr Jappa.

He said after detection of dengue cases, the cantonment board had formed 18 teams to launch a door-to-door campaign to raise awareness to avoid the spread of the dengue virus, adding the CDGR and RCB planned to hold an awareness walk in the city on Saturday.

Rawalpindi District Bar Association’s former president Sajid Bhatti said the civic bodies could not lodge an FIR against private house owners because there was no law dealing with the presence of dengue larvae in private houses.

However, he said, there were laws which dealt with epidemic diseases and not specifically with presence of mosquitoes in private houses. “It will create unrest among the citizens,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 10th , 2014