Delhi High Court unhappy with civic bodies over dengue cases in Delhi

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday expressed its displeasure at the national capital's municipal corporations over their inaction in containing the rising dengue fever cases in the city.

Hearing a matter related to the Delhi government's decision on funds to South Delhi Municipal Corporation, a division bench comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh rapped the civic body, saying they are doing nothing to tackle dengue.

"You only want salaries. What do you do with these salaries and amounts?" Justice Sanghi told the SDMC's counsel while expressing concern over the increasing dengue cases in the capital every year.

The court observed that after the monsoon there will be mosquitoes and it has been a pattern for the last 15-20 years.

"Is there some rocket science involved? Is there no planning? Is there no thought process? How can it be that every year?" the court asked. It also asked the civic body to file an affidavit disclosing the steps taken on the ground in order to contain the rising vector-borne diseases.

The court said it will be hearing the issue of dengue on December 1.

On November 9, in a plea filed by a petitioner, who is herself suffering from dengue, the Delhi High Court had sought the response of the city government and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation an action plan to control the dengue outbreak in the national capital.

The petitioner had alleged that the outbreak is due to the inaction by the respondents in controlling it.

The plea stated that it is an obligatory duty of the Delhi Government and Municipal Corporations to take measures to control the dengue outbreak and to conduct regular fogging of the area, door-to-door awareness campaigns, form teams to inspect dengue larvae on-premises to levy penalties for violation and issue dengue helpline numbers to protect the fundamental right to life of a citizen.

The plea highlighted media reports of dengue cases in Delhi, which are going beyond 1,000 cases, while over 280 fresh cases have been reported in the last week.