the goan I network
VASCO
Activists in the port town have hit out at the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) for having only one functional fogging machine, especially after dengue was linked to two deaths in Vasco.
They were reacting to a report in The Goan stating that the MMC had only one functional fogging machine to fumigate the entire port town, which comprises of 25 wards with about 1 lakh of population. The MMC officially has two fogging machines, but one has been out of order. The activists have demanded that MMC buy more fogging machines instead of depending on other agencies like the Vasco Urban health Centre or Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida. They have also demanded that MMC Chief Officer Gaurish Shankhwalkar be made incharge of fumigation operations across all wards, to ensure there is no political bias between ruling and opposition councillors while fumigation is undertaken in the wards.
Vikram Sarmalcar said it was shocking to know that MMC had only one operational. “The MMC is supposed to be an ‘A’ Class municipality and there were demands made to make it a corporation. The fact is that this same cash-rich municipality has only one fogging machine despite several suspected dengue cases.”
“Why should MMC not buy more fogging machines instead of depending on other agencies like Vasco Urban Health Centres for fogging machines? The DMA is known to have been giving so much of grants for development. Why can’t the MMC purchase a few more machines just as they buy additional vehicles to tackle garbage menace. We want to know when MMC will get its own fogging machines,” said Sarmalcar.
“The MMC chief officer must head this fogging operation across all wards, so that all wards are fumigated without political bias of ruling and opposition panels.”
Vasco has sufficient fogging machines: Palyekar
PANAJI: In light of the two deaths that occurred in Vasco which are suspected to be because of dengue, officials from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) have maintained that Vasco has sufficient fogging machines, and that there was no need for more machines to prevent dengue.
Speaking to The Goan on Thursday, Dr Anand Palyekar, Goa in-charge of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme said that the moment dengue cases are identified, health officials swing into action and areas where breeding is identified are fogged.
“Mormugao has two large fogging machines and they also have four small machines. Fogging machines are not supplied by the department for the whole town, because if the department were to do that, we would need to supply hundreds of fogging machines. The more important thing is to prevent an outbreak when a case of dengue is detected,” Palyekar said. “Fogging is not to be carried out on a day to day basis. The moment there is a dengue case, people focus only on fogging. But prevention has to be looked at,” he added. He maintained that advisories were being constantly sent to people during the monsoons, and not only when dengue raises its head. The health official also pointed out that it was difficult to get people to co-operate.
