Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, July 15: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation has turned its focus on closed industrial units to check the alarming dengue situation in the city.
"We have issued showcause notices to four industrial units for not taking appropriate measures to maintain sanitation on their respective campuses," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.
The notices have been served to Santoshi Format, God Shree Ceramic and Chemicals, Samaleswari Cashew Products and Konark Industries.
Fourteen new dengue cases were reported from Cuttack today, taking the total number of persons affected with the vector borne disease to 137.
In another development, SCB Medical College and Hospital is planning to increase the number of beds at its dengue ward from 150 to 200.
At present, around 126 patients from various parts of the state are undergoing treatment at the dengue ward.
As SCB has turned into a nodal centre for treatment of dengue, efforts are on to ensure that dengue patients are provided with emergency treatment here and are kept under supervision round the clock.
"Six patients are undergoing treatment in the ICU and a team of doctors are closely monitoring their health conditions," said SCB emergency officer B.N. Moharana.
In another development, civic bosses in Bhubaneswar have also turned their focus mainly on closed industrial units at Mancheswar Industrial Estate to ward off the threat posed by dengue.
Councillor of ward No. 10 of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Pranati Nayak said that though they were undertaking cleanliness drive in their respective areas to stop breeding of mosquitoes, industrial sites were out of bounds for the civic body.
"We have urged Idco officials to allow us to check whether abandoned machinery in closed industrial units are maintained and cleaned properly. We also need to check whether there is accumulation of water in the closed industrial units," she said.
Industries secretary and Idco chairman Sanjeev Chopra said that following a directive from health secretary Arti Ahuja, the premises of all industrial units would be inspected to check if there was accumulation of water anywhere.
The special squad formed by the BMC to monitor the dengue situation across the city today started a cleanliness drive at Mancheswar Industrial Estate.
