LAHORE: The committee formed by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) to monitor the fumigation campaign led by the City District Government (CDGL) officials to counter the dengue virus has found lapses in the process.
The S&GAD had tasked senior government officials with monitoring the fumigation drive across the provincial metropolis, assigning all nine towns to nine senior officials. The committee became effective from October 30. Each official monitored one town for eight days to check the desired standard and pace and submitted its report directly to the chief secretary. Moreover, the committee also coordinated with the town in-charges of the Health Department.
FAULTY EQUIPMENTS, AREAS WITHOUT FUMIGATION: Officials pointed out many flaws in the fumigation drive, such as faulty equipment. One of the reports submitted by Shoaib Iqbal Syed who monitored Nishtar Town read, “One of the three fogger machines was non-functional right from the start, another stopped working during operation and hence we were left with only one operational machine.
The entire exercise wasted four precious hours and left many areas unsprayed.” Similar shortcomings were observed in other union councils of other towns as well, leaving many areas of the city without fumigation. The names of the officials with their respective towns assigned to them in parenthesis are:
Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program Additional Program Director Saeed Zaman (Samanabad Town), S&GAD (O&M) Deputy Secretary (DS) Aslam Lakhvera (Shalimar Town), Agriculture Department DS Zulifiqar Ahmed (Ravi Town), School Education Department DS Sher Ahmed Malik (Aziz Bhatti Town), Shoaib Iqbal Syed at the disposal of LG&CD Department
(Nishter Town), LG&CD Department DS Tariq Latif (Data Gunj Buksh Town), Human Rights and Minorities Department DS Zahid Sharif (Gulberg Town), Public Prosecution Department DS M Khalid and P&D DS Jawad Akram (Allama Iqbal Town).
Senior doctors and all stakeholders have maintained in various awareness campaigns that dengue is recurrent and spraying campaign only this year will help in containing the virus next year. Pakistan Medical Society Chairman Dr Masood Akhter said, “All such sites with stagnated water, including parks and other public places, should be identified and fumigated to control the incidence of dengue next year.
One dengue mosquito lays 250 to 300 eggs all of whom grow into adult mosquitoes; leaving one area without fumigation can destroy the entire effort.” Executive District Officer Health Dr Umar Farooq was not available for comments despite repeated efforts.
