Mosquito breeding around the Commonwealth Games village site has not been checked despite repeated warnings and notices by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to the Delhi government, MCD’s health committee chairman Dr V K Monga told Governance Now on Wednesday here.

A team of eleven MCD health department officials, headed by Dr Monga, inspected the complex and found mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water on three sides of the venue.

“We inspected the commonwealth games village today and saw the mosquito breeding on three sides of the venue. We have warned the Delhi government about the issue. Despite that, they have not done anything. The situation can go out of hand if not tackled on time,” said Dr Monga. 

Till Wednesday, Delhi had reported 157 dengue cases in the city with maximum cases from south and central Delhi. The disease follows a cyclical trend and becomes more virulent every four years. This happens to be the fourth year of the dengue virus and it coincides with the wide scale construction in the city which has led to water logging in many areas.

The report submitted by the team states that the “site of the games village is not precise as the breeding cannot be eliminated completely in the river bed area to multiple pot holes and troughs in the terrain”. The problem is worsened as the post monsoon conditions are conducive for mosquito breeding.

“A view breaker wall has also been erected opposite games village making poor access to areas between games village and river bed for taking anti larval measures. Large number of pots and troughs were observed which had mosquito breeding. Overall general sanitation of the area was pathetic,” said the MCD inspection report.

Three workers at the games site had fever and the district health officer was asked by the MCD team to carry out mass blood slide survey. Mosquito breeding was also observed in the drain of the basement of the towers.

For tackling the dengue menace, Dr Monga said that there are 34 sentinel hospitals in Delhi which have kits for the treatment of the disease. Blood platelets are also available at the government notified centres for those infected with the disease.

Some reports, however, say that the numbers of dengue cases are higher than given by the MCD. Patients availing treatment from the private hospitals sometimes fail to send reports to the MCD.

“It is mandatory for the private hospitals to provide daily reports to MCD on the dengue cases treated by them. We have requested the private hospitals to inform us, but many may not be following it. If the private hospitals inform us about the area from where the case is reported, we will send our team there for area survillence,” said Dr Monga.