Cuttack, July 7: The district administration today directed business establishments at the Jagatpur Industrial Estate to immediately clean their premises to combat dengue here.

"We asked all industrial houses to carry out sanitation drives to destroy mosquito breeding sites," said district collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.

Around 25 persons have already tested positive for dengue at Jagatpur in the past week, while two new cases were reported from CDA Colony today. The spurt in dengue cases has also forced SCB Medical College and Hospital to increase the number of beds at its dengue ward.

The civic body confirmed the presence of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae at Jagatpur that were found during a survey conducted there recently.

"There are more than 1,000 industrial units at Jagatpur. It is impossible for us to maintain sanitation there. However, we have already launched a drive to create cleanliness awareness," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.

Sting death

Relatives of Sukramani Sandil, who died while undergoing treatment for fever at the district headquarters hospital at Badbil in Keonjhar today, alleged he was suffering from dengue.

However, the state health and family welfare department has refuted the allegation. However, an official of the hospital on conditions of anonymity said that some 19 patients were undergoing treatment there for dengue.