With spurt in dengue cases in recent times threatening to spiral out of control, a worried state government held a meeting with district magistrates and other officials of various departments spearheading the drive against the vector-borne disease at Nabanna today.

The high-level virtually meeting, held at state secretariat Nabanna was chaired by chief secretary Harikrishna Dwivedi and was attended by district magistrates, Commissioner Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), CMOHs (Chief Medical offi- cers of Health) of all the districts among other officers, to deliberate on steps to check the surge in dengue cases.
The CS directed the districts to immediately clean all dengue hotspots, based on entomological alerts, amid the increase in such cases, offi- cials said. There were also discussions on engaging the central government offices to ensure cleanliness along with adequate preventive measures, including those of the Kolkata Metro, sources said.

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The meeting, sources said, was held following instruction from the chief minister Mamata Banerjee to take corrective measures against the vector- borne disease. Many several dos and don’ts were listed with particular emphasis on four districts, North and South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah and several areas of Kolkata, where cases of dengue are on the rise.

The meeting, claimed sources at Nabanna, besides asking district magistrates to hold immediate meetings with all the councillors of all the affected ULBs and ensure that all the preventive steps are taken, issued instructions to go hard on those persons and property owners flouting rules.

An Intensive cleaning drive (in pulse mode) should be undertaken at all the hotspots with immediate effect based on entomological alerts with a special focus should be on removal of scrap materials, management of construc- tion sites, closed factory premises and vacant lands.

The meeting also decided to request the railways and Metro officials to undertake proper cleaning activities within the premises and put in place adequate preventive steps at their construction sites.

That the outbreak of dengue may just create prob- lems in the rural areas as well, was also deliberated upon as the meeting decid- ed to impart training to the newly-elected panchayat members in its fight against dengue.