PESHAWAR: Reacting to the rise in dengue fever cases, elders of Khalil Qaumi jirga on Wednesday warned the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to take practical steps for controlling the epidemic till Sept 25 otherwise people of the dengue-hit localities will start agitation by blocking the University Road and its responsibility will rest with the health department and chief minister.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl leader Maulana Amanullah Haqqani said that dengue had caused many deaths and hundreds of people were still under treatment in hospitals, but the government had failed to take effective measures to control the epidemic.

Flanked by Jamaat-i-Islami’s former provincial minister Kashif Azam, PML-N leader Arbab Khizar Hayat, PTI representative Pir Fida advocate, JUI-F leader Atifur Rehman Khalil, and local nazims, Mr Haqqani said that the situation was going from bad to worse with each passing day.

He claimed that over 35 people had so far died of dengue fever in Tehkal, Palosi, Shaheen Town, Pawakha, Gharibabad, Sufaid Dheri and Pishtakhara areas of Peshawar. He said the rising number of cases had exposed the KP government’s health reforms.

Mr Haqqani said that the number of dengue patients had increased in the Khyber Teaching Hospital and the new patients should be referred to other hospitals of the provincial capital.

He demanded of the government to depute more doctors and technical staff at KTH, saying that it was overcrowded. He called for formally acquiring assistance of the Punjab health dengue control team to handle the situation by adopting scientific methods.

Mr Haqqani said the special mobile teams should be deputed in dengue-affected areas of Peshawar. He said that fumigation should be conducted in educational institutions to prevent spread of dengue.

The JUI-F demanded of the government to declare the five dengue-affected union councils as calamity-hit and asked for payment of Rs1 million as compensation to relatives of each of the deceased and Rs50,000 to each of the patients.

Kashif Azam alleged that the provincial government was not taking the dengue issue seriously. He called for mobilising of all the technical and financial resources to control the dengue situation.

Khizar Hayat criticised the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar for not taking proper measures to flush out stagnant rainwater and ensuring cleanliness in the dengue-hit areas in Peshawar. “We will close the University Road on Monday,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017