Cuttack, July 19: The municipal corporation today formed 12 squads to identify and destroy the breeding sites of dengue-causing Aedes Agypti mosquitoes on the premises of various companies at Khapuria Industrial Unit.
Each team will be headed by one assistant engineer and will have two officials and two labourers. These teams have been asked to conduct inspections at various office complexes and commercial units and take measures for destroying the breeding sites.
The move comes following identification of mosquito breeding sites inside several industrial units at Jagatpur in ward No. 49 from where 175 dengue cases have been reported in the past two months.
So far, 242 dengue cases have been reported in Cuttack this year.
"We will initially launch a drive at Khapuria Industrial Unit, where there are nearly 190 industrial companies. During an inspection at Khapuria, we found some violations and the company owners have been asked to discard empty storage containers that are mosquito-breeding sites," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.
Das added that four industries had so far been temporarily sealed and 10 units had been issued showcause notices for allowing accumulation of stagnant water in their complexes at Jagatpur.
"As some companies are locked owing to legal disputes, we are facing problems in carrying out inspections there. We have asked Idco officials to take appropriate measures for opening the gates of those companies," Das said.
Idco divisional manager R.K. Mohapatra said 45 industries that had been locked for several years had been identified and the process to collect the contact numbers of the owners had begun. "We have asked all industrial units to maintain sanitation inside their respective complexes while the waste generated from such units would be dumped on the roadside. That will subsequently be cleaned up by the corporation on a cost-sharing basis," Mohapatra said.
The civic body today urged Jagatpur residents not to take any fever casually and immediately consult doctors at the local mobile health camp.
Facilities, such as collection of blood and transportation of suspected dengue patients to SCB Medical College and Hospital, have been made available for early detection of cases and prompt treatment.
A health camp was also conducted at Patapole today for screening of suspected dengue cases at Sutahat and surrounding localities.
Dengue death
A 46-year-old patient died of dengue at SCB today, taking the total toll to three.
The deceased has been identified as Chaturbhuja Parida of Jagatpur. Parida was brought to SCB's casualty ward in a critical condition at 7:30am, and he later died at the hospital's ICU around 4.25pm.
Earlier, Tuna Nayak, 28, of Angul and Lalkrushna Suna, 35, of Balangir had reportedly died of dengue at SCB on July 10 and July 12, respectively.
