Shock to despair to anger.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, on a visit to the dengue-affected areas of Calcutta on Thursday, was greeted with a volley of abuse and angry words.

Reason: the failure of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to react fast enough to the outbreak.

Tension mounted on Prince Anwar Shah Road after news spread that Riya Khatoon, 9, had succumbed to dengue fever on Wednesday evening. ?This is the third dengue-related death in the area and civic officers are yet to wake up to the situation. And now, the mayor has decided to visit us,? said Paran Biswas, a local resident.

But the CMC denied the death was dengue-related, and said the toll still stood at nine.

Metro received several phone calls from Calcuttans, who said that despite lodging complaints about possible dengue cases, the two CMC helplines ? Dipankar Das at 9830065357 and Atanu Mukherjee at 9831017983 ? nothing had been done to address their grievance.

For instance, a woman from Dover Road called one of the helplines to report a construction site at 16, Dover Road (ward 69), which has several pools of water ? ideal breeding ground for dengue-causing mosquitoes ? but there was no hint of civic action.

The state health directorate has alerted all hospitals about the virus. A special ward was opened at Dr BC Roy Hospital for Children, and all state-run hospitals were supplied with kits for determining dengue.

State health directorate officers said six possible dengue cases were admitted to SSKM Hospital, followed by one at NRS Medical College and Hospital and six at National Medical College and Hospital.

Mayor Bhattacharya arrived at a CMC medical camp in the Masjidpara area in Tollygunge?s ward 94 around 10 am. Local Trinamul Congress councillor Ratan Dey confronted him. Dey alleged that the steps the CMC had taken so far were inadequate to control the outbreak.

After a heated exchange, the mayor left the camp in a huff. Later, the councillor met health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra and demanded more action from CMC?s health wing.

Anger, fear and panic came to the fore throughout the affected areas, including Lake Gardens, Rahim Ostagar Lane, Masjidpara, Gobindapur colony, Mollahati slum and other pockets reeling under dengue fever.

In Dum Dum, too, and in Bhatpara, up north, people were unhappy with the response from the authorities.