Local Govt Dept: Mobile teams check 20,887 unused sites

74 fined under Local Govt Ordinance for not taking anti-dengue measures.

LAHORE: Mobiles teams of the Local Government Department have so far inspected 20,887 unused junkyards, basements and buildings and taken measures to eradicate dengue mosquito larvae there, said Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique on Sunday.

Rafique, visiting the central dengue control room at the Local Government Department Complex, said that these places had been assigned code numbers to help other departments involved in verifying that anti-dengue measures have been taken at locations.

Rafique said that rules and regulations drawn up in the light of reports on the growth of dengue larvae and their implementation had greatly helped in controlling the disease. He said rules for junkyards would also be drawn up in light of the inspections done by the Local Government Department.

Additional Local Government Secretary Raja Jahangir said that cases had been registered against the owners of 42 junkyards, shops and factories for not taking anti-dengue measures despite warnings.

He said that 74 people had been fined under the Local Government Ordinance.

He said that Local Government Department teams had been forgoing their Sunday holiday so they could do their jobs. He said that their efforts had helped check the disease in Lahore this season. He said that the public was quite aware of the disease and the mobile teams received tips regularly about junkyards and other places where it was feared that dengue mosquito could breed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2012.