Huge amount of dengue larvae rings alarm

Surveillance finds excess of mosquitoes in government college

RAWALPINDI:

In the wake of the strict instructions by the Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Hasan Waqar Cheema, a third-party dengue surveillance team of the Civil Defence Department unearthed a huge amount of dengue larvae at 11 different locations in the Government Viqarun Nisa Post Graduate College for Women.

Sources said an abundance of dengue mosquitoes were also found in the grass and weeds besides empty liquor bottles were also recovered from the deserted area of the college.

The college is located in Union Council-45 of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation, from where seven dengue cases have been reported so far, taking the total tally of the district to 37.

All the areas adjacent to the storm drains of this ancient and congested UC, including Arya Mohalla, Nadeem Colony, Javed Colony, Tipu Road, Chamanzar Colony, Kashmir Colony, and Sir Syed Chowk, have been declared as the number one dengue hotspot and strict directives have been issued for their third-party survey and checking on daily basis.

The dengue larvae were recovered from underground water tanks, over-roof water tanks, drains, stagnant water in the ground, flower pots, disposable plastic utensils lying around, the canteen, and open water coolers of the government college.

The four-member third-party survey team of the Civil Defense recovered the dengue larvae in the presence of the college administration, the area team of the health department and the team that declared the college completely clear following which the larvae were preserved in bottles and submitted to the DC along with the report.

Whereas the empty liquor bottles were also made a part of the record and the remaining dengue larvae were destroyed with chemical sprays.

When contacted, Civil Defence District Officer Talib Hussain confirmed that a third-party survey has detected a huge amount of dengue larvae in the college.

“A strict report has been prepared on this and a third-party survey has been intensified across the city,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2023.