In a bid to control the spread of dengue virus and pollen allergy in the federal capital, the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has approved a grant worth Rs 59 million for the Capital Administration and Development Division (CAAD). The CAAD would utilise this grant during 2012 to fight dengue virus and pollen allergy. A senior CAAD official told Pakistan Today that the outgoing CAAD secretary, Chaudhry Junaid Iqbal, had sent a summary to the Prime Minster Gilani, seeking funds for a task force to control the dengue epidemic and pollen allergy in Islamabad. The summery, he said, has now been approved.
Chaudhry Junaid Iqbal is going to retire today (12 December), and CDA head Imtiaz Inayat Elahi would be overseeing the CAAD’s affair, he added. The official said the task force would be divided into seven groups which would take care of hospitals, awareness campaign, vaccination group, procurement group and other tasks. Another CAAD official told this scribe that the educational institutions in Islamabad, hospitals and CDA’s environment wing would play a major role in the formation of the proposed task force. The official said it had already been decided that special chapters would be introduced in the schools’ syllabi by the next academic session, on the awareness regarding dengue virus and pollen allergy. It is relevant to note here that dengue fever claimed around four hundred lives during the present year across the country. Similarly the Mulberry trees in the capital are a major source of pollen allergy in the city and residents suffer from severely during the months of March and April. The official said that besides taking others steps to control dengue and pollen allergy the task force would also get the Mulberry trees cut and would launch plant sapling campaign in the city.
The proposed task force would get these trees cut under the ‘3+1’ formula. According to this formula, two out of three Mulberry trees will be cut while against every felled tree, five saplings of new trees would be planted.
The CAAD was established after the devolution of education and health ministries to the provinces under the 18th Amendment. Later on, some departments of other devolved ministries including ministry of culture, livestock, population, special education, tourism and youth affairs were also handed over to the CAAD. The body is currently working directly under the prime minister and the cabinet secretariat.
