Greenbelts, parks breeding dengue

LAHORE
Majority of greenbelts, public parks and open places have been turned into dengue breeding grounds as the civic authorities have failed to drain out the stagnant rainwater during the ongoing monsoon rains.
Citizens feared that this may result in the spread of deadly mosquito-related diseases, especially dengue and malaria, in the coming days. They urged the chief minister to ask the civic authorities to act immediately and take precautionary measures.
However, DCO Lahore Capt Usman believed that rainwater which is stagnant in parks, grounds, green belts and other open areas should not be drained out as this water recharges the underground water level. “Eggs of dengue mosquitoes take almost seven days to change into larva so we can keep this water in parks, greenbelts and other places for six days,” he said while talking to The News recently. A visit to various localities of the City has revealed that recent rains inundated most of the greenbelts, parks and empty plots, especially in the residential localities. The accumulated rainwater is now turning stagnant and giving a filthy look while stinking, causing irritation and inconvenience to the citizens.
It is pertinent to mention here that Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) itself put the rainwater in greenbelts, parks and empty places to clear roads and streets. In some localities, WASA authorities dumped filthy sewer mixed with rainwater in public parks. People of different localities said that the stagnant rainwater in the playgrounds and empty plots was resulting in serious inconvenience for them and it could be dangerous in the current season. Khurram, a resident of Faisal Town, said a small park outside his house was completely filled with rainwater and despite repeated complaints none of the officials from civic bodies came to drain out the stagnant water. He said the water was full of mosquitoes. Many other citizens also raised similar concerns and questioned over the role of civic bodies in this situation as whose responsibility was to ensure cleanliness. On the other hand, sources in the CDGL’s Epidemic Control Centre revealed that no fumigation campaign had been launched by the CDGL this year to kill dengue larvae. Sources said usually CDGL carried out its fumigation campaign in the provincial capital in the late July which continued by mid September but this year the campaign was yet to be started.
CDGL officials said it had already motivated its lady health workers to start educating people in their respective localities about mosquito-related diseases as well as to take precautionary measures to avoid dengue. They said lady health workers were going door to door and educating citizens especially housewives and children.
Meanwhile, doctors advised the citizens to take preventive measures such as use of mosquito nets, repellents, covering of exposed skin, use of bed nets and avoiding endemic areas. They said people should also use mosquito coils and electric vapour mats to prevent mosquitoes.