Health minister Prasanna Acharya visits a dengue affected village in Angul district on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar/Angul, Aug. 23: With the official dengue death toll rising to 20 in the state, health and family welfare minister Prasanna Acharya and secretary Anu Garg today visited the Angul-Talcher industrial belt, which was worst-hit by the disease.

The latest death in dengue also came from Talcher block, though the patient died at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Regretting that the industries in the state have partially carried out the directives issued by the government to tackle dengue, he asked them to ensure 100 per cent implementation of the government directives in their respective areas as the disease had mostly come from the industrial belts of the state. On the demand to declare dengue as an epidemic, he, however, said: “I request Opposition leaders not to politicise the issue.”

But interestingly, the unofficial dengue death in Angul district has touched 25 and it took the health minister and his team more than a month to visit the epicentre of the dengue outbreak. Though the official death toll in the disease in the district has remained a little below the local figure, lack of awareness and preparedness by the authorities of the Mahanadi Coalfield Limited and the state government have allegedly resulted in such a terrible mess.

During the visit, the minister reviewed the situation with industrial officials of the state and central sectors. Talking to newspersons at Talcher after holding the meeting, he said: “Dengue can not be eliminated within a day or night. It will take time. But, the government is making serious efforts to eradicate the menace. We are working on the central guidelines.”

“We are involving various self-help groups, non-governmental organisations, and youth clubs to create dengue awareness. The people should also regularly conduct cleansing drive as the government cannot go to every door to clean their surroundings as the aedes mosquito is a peri-domestic vector,’’ he said.

Acharya said that a special ward at SCB Medical College and Hospital had been created to treat dengue patients. He also said he would ask private hospitals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to accommodate the growing load of dengue patients by creating more beds at their respective hospitals.