A municipal worker carries out fogging. Picture UB Photos

Nov. 11: Health and civic body officials have been claiming all along that fogging has been intensified across Kamrup (metropolitan) district to prevent spread of dengue.

Residents in several localities, however, complain that they have not seen fogging activities in their areas this season.

So far, dengue has claimed four lives and infected about 200 in Kamrup (metropolitan) district.

Besides, a few more suspected cases of dengue are awaiting results of confirmatory tests. The number of dengue infections in Kamrup is comparative less at 22 with no deaths recorded in the district so far. Majority of recent dengue infections have been incurred locally.

“So many dengue cases have come to light in the last few weeks. The health and the civic authorities keep saying that fogging has been intensified to cover the entire city. Then why was fogging not done in our locality? I have not seen any worker of the health department or the GMC fogging our apartment or the locality,” Bornali Das, a resident of Rukminigaon, said.

“A girl from the nearby Gotanagar area had died of dengue recently. Though after the incident health workers conducted fogging, they covered only some parts of Maligaon leaving behind most of the localities. Even our lane has not been fogged so far. The whole area should have been covered, especially in the light of the fact that more dengue cases are surfacing in Kamrup (metropolitan) district,” said Amal Ghosh, a resident of Maligaon.

Fogging is the best-accepted way to kill mosquitoes that transmit dengue virus.

At present the district health service has four fogging machines and the GMC has one at its disposal. Many residents, however, claim that these machines are not being used effectively because many areas have still not been covered.

“Two people were infected with dengue virus in an area adjacent to our locality. Though they have recovered after treatment, there is every possibility of the dengue-spreading mosquitoes being present locally. If these mosquitoes are not killed, they can easily infect more people here. Strangely no fogging has been taken place in our locality so far. Even the drain that runs through our locality is in a very bad condition as it is filled with polluted stagnant water and other pollutants. The GMC has not done anything to clean it either,” said Dhiren Baruah, president of local NGO, Save Guwahati Build Guwahati and resident of Lamb Road.

“In fact, neighbours along with a few NGOs are planning to take up this issue and conduct an awareness drive on dengue infection soon after Diwali keeping in mind the fact that prevention is always better than cure. We will also highlight absence of fogging activities in our area,” Baruah said.

“A total of five fogging machines are being used to conduct fogging in different localities across the city in a phased manner and at a specific time during the day. We are trying to cover as many areas as possible,” S. Sen, an official of the Kamrup (metropolitan) health service, said.