MCD spent nearly 100 crore on dengue control in 2024, reveals RTI

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has spent nearly Rs 100 crore on dengue control operations in the financial year 2024-25 so far, up from Rs 87.99 crore in the previous fiscal year, according to an RTI response.

This increase reflects the MCD's intensified efforts to combat mosquito-borne diseases, which have seen a rise in cases this year.

A detailed breakdown of the 2024 expenditure shows that Rs 96.79 crore was spent, including Rs 4.8 crore on fogging, Rs 83.25 lakh on anti-larval measures, Rs 42.02 lakh on medicines and equipment, Rs 1.2 lakh on special drives, Rs 17.05 lakh on worker training and Rs 2.20 lakh on advertisements.

The Right to Information (RTI) response also revealed that 2.89 crore houses were inspected for mosquito breeding in 2024, in comparison to 4.14 crore in 2023.

The expenditures last year included Rs 4.18 crore on fogging, Rs 9.56 crore on anti-larval measures, Rs 90 lakh on medicines and equipment, Rs 2.09 lakh on advertisements and Rs 2 lakh spent on training. The RTI response did not provide any assessments regarding the effectiveness of these measures or the overall dengue management strategy for 2023 and 2024.Notably, the MCD spent Rs 12.50 lakh on special drives last year.

As of November 30, Delhi had reported over 5,700 dengue cases, along with three dengue-related deaths, according to the MCD data. In October alone, over 2,400 cases of dengue were reported, the highest in four years.

Although dengue cases have decreased compared to last year's 9,266, other mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and chikungunya, have seen a significant rise. By November 30, Delhi had recorded 766 malaria cases, a 99 per cent increase from 384 cases in 2023 and the highest in four years. Similarly, chikungunya cases surged to 266 this year, up from just 44 in 2023, also the highest in four years.

The spike in mosquito-borne diseases was most noticeable between September and October, likely due to changing weather conditions in Delhi, the data showed. There has been a decline in the number of such cases with the onset of winter.

In contrast, last year, the spike occurred between August and November.  Mosquitoes in India typically breed during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. This year,  a delayed monsoon in Delhi led to a late rise in cases, followed by an early decline as winter approached.

The civic body has also been combating the Japanese encephalitis virus, another mosquito-borne disease. A case of Japanese encephalitis was reported in Delhi earlier this month, prompting the MCD to intensify anti-mosquito measures.