Curbing vector-borne diseases: Delhi HC raps civic bodies, asks DGHS for plan

The bench directed authorities to file a status report on May 30.

Delhi High Court

Irked by steps taken by the civic bodies and the Centre to counter vector-borne diseases in the capital, the Delhi High Court Thursday impleaded the Directorate General of Health Services through P K Sen, Director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, in the case. The bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked Sen to submit a “comprehensive action plan” within four weeks, which would then be implemented by the civic bodies “to prevent and finally eliminate” the diseases. “What is the action plan?… Where did cases of dengue and chikungunya occur?… What are the appropriate measures? What is the MCD doing?… You are sitting with data while people have no clue,” said the bench after the standing counsel for the Centre, Sanjeev Narula, submitted the report.

The counsel said a team is conducting inspections in each area and that studies had not yet validated systems such as ayurveda as an alternative method of treating chikungunya. “Tell people, they should know that,” the bench said.

The counsel also said the MCD did not have a proper solid waste management programme as all waste disposal sites were full.

“Garbage, stagnating water, illegal constructions, dengue and chikungunya were all integrated,” the report said.
Noting the lack of classification in the report, the bench asked, “Does ‘residential units’ mean single house, or jhuggis or people sleeping in the open? We don’t want it (the report). Take it back. Put an index and file it.”

EDMC counsel, advocate Arpit Bhargava, said there were around 9 lakh houses in its area and a team of inspectors visited about 50 houses a day. Each visit took around 15 minutes, and the entire process about 40 days, after which there were revisits. It was “humanly impossible to conduct inspection of 50 houses in a day, as it would mean team members would have to work over 12 hours at a stretch”, the counsel said.

“You keep records? If someone gets chikungunya, can you rap the inspectors?” the bench said.

Noting that “measures were taken only for destruction of larvae”, the bench said, “We are positive that there would be no holistic measures for control of vector-borne diseases…”

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The bench directed authorities to file a status report on May 30.

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