Dengue toll unclear, blame game begins

It's still not clear how many people in Bengal have died of dengue. While Health Department sources have put the toll figure at six, the minister in charge of the department on Sunday claimed three people have fallen victim to the disease caused by Aedes mosquito. The number of people getting affected from the disease in Kolkata has been rising steadily. In the last three months, Health Department sources said 638 people have fallen ill from dengue in the state capital.

It's not only Kolkata, the number of people being affected from dengue across the state has also been rising. Government sources said this year, the number of people affected in the state has reached 1,717. Other districts hit by the vector-borne disease are North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Nadia.

A blame game has already started between the Health Department and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on not doing enough to control the outbreak of the disease.

Faced with criticisms, KMC officials tried to put the blame on the health department saying the department has failed to coordinate with the civic body in trying to tackle the menace. Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh said it was not possible for the civic body to tackle the outbreak solely. "If Army is put into service, they cannot control the outbreak in a very short span of time," he said.

The KMC has decided to bring out a White Paper on the situation to counter the "allegations".

With the state administration not giving out 'real' figures of dengue victims, the Congress party, too like the CPM, has accused the government of hiding the facts. State Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya on Sunday said the government is trying to hide the figures of dengue death cases and has directed the hospitals not to divulge the details.

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