Only 12 fogging machines for city

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, July 6

Though the Municipal Corporation claims to have started fogging early this year and at present fogging is being done once a day in the morning, residents from many city areas complain of no fogging being carried out in their respective areas. There are only 12 machines for covering the entire city.

Residents from various areas have sought from the Municipal Corporation to conduct fogging two times a day for the prevention of vector-borne diseases.

Meena, a resident of the Jassian Road area, said no fogging had been done in the area and she could see mosquitoes in vacant plots. “The rainy season has started and fogging should also be done twice a day but generally it is seen that the department concerned wakes up only after several cases are reported,” she said.

“I haven’t seen fogging being done in our area, not even once this year, while dengue cases are already being reported. The authorities should ensure proper frogging in the city,” said Ajit Singh from Salem Tabri.

Lalit Kumar of Parkash Colony said he had not witnessed fogging being done in his area this rainy season. “Fogging should be must be done in all streets regularly and now that the monsoon is already here, the authorities should cover every street,” he said.

Jagjeet Singh, a city resident from BRS Nagar, said the MC should ensure timely and proper fogging in all parts of the city. Starting a helpline number for the same could also prove helpful so that residents could make request for the exercise in their respective areas, he said.

Medical officer of the MC Vipul Malhotra said fogging was conducted once a day in the morning and sometimes due to rain it could not be done. There were 12 machines to cover the city and in days to come, they were planning to start fogging twice a day.

Meanwhile, 25 cases of dengue have been reported from Ludhiana so far and the Health Department has also intensified its drive to check dengue larvae and 100 breeding checkers are on the job. Today, teams of the department visited 316 houses and 1,814 containers were checked and larvae was found at nine places which include Rishi Nagar (two spots), Radi Mohalla (two places), Santokh Nagar (one spot), Mochpura Bazaar (one place), Sunder Nagar (one place), Giaspura (one place) and Shivaji Nagar (one spot). Challans were issued to offenders on the spot.

25 dengue cases so far

So far, 25 cases of dengue have been reported from Ludhiana and the Health Department has also intensified its drive to check dengue larvae and 100 breeding checkers are on the job.