After several deaths caused by dengue and malignant malaria in the city, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) claimed one life, adding to the death toll of vector-borne diseases in Kolkata.

Pralay Choudhury (34), a resident of 87 Sabarna Para Road, died on Thursday at the School of Tropical Medicine (STM). Locals and relatives of the deceased blamed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the STM for not taking adequate measures to save his life.

Ajay Chatterjee, a relative of Choudhury, said: “He was suffering since July. Initially, he was admitted to a private nursing home and then shifted to the SSKM Hospital. There he was treated as a patient of enteric disease.”

He added: “His blood sample was collected as late as on August 27 and sent to the STM. But we received the report on September 20. In the meantime his condition had worsened.”

After being diagnosed as a patient of JE in the report, Choudhury was taken to the Assembly of God Church Hospital but when his condition started deteriorating, the authorities discharged him, stating that his condition had become too critical to be treated at the hospital.

He was rushed to the STM but he could not be admitted there because no bed was vacant in the school. He finally got admission after local councillor Shyamadas Roy and KMC chairman Nirmal Mukherjee intervened in the case.

Locals complained that no anti-larval measure has been carried out in the area. Roy said: “Chodhury had not gone outside the city in the last eight years. So there is no possibility that he caught the infection outside. He was infected in the city. The civic body should give special attention to the area but nothing has been done yet.”