Fogging machine at Modi's rally venue to prevent dengue

With dengue cases on the upswing in the national capital, civic authorities will station a fogging machine at the Japanese park in Rohini where Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is to address a rally on Sunday, said an official.

Expecting lakhs of people at the venue, the civic authorities are keen to keep the mosquito-borne dengue at bay. Dengue has notched up over 1,700 cases this year so far, with a few deaths reported.

"As lakhs of people will be visiting the park, a fogging machine has been installed there," P.K Gupta, North Municipal Corporation commissioner, told IANS.

He said a small pond near the park was found to be full of mosquito larvae.

"The small pond near the park was breeding mosquitoes, but now the area has been fumigated and adequate measures taken to combat breeding of mosquitoes," added Gupta.

The area would be kept under constant monitoring to prevent mosquito breeding.

Of the 1,729 cases reported from Delhi and its adjoining areas till Friday, 837 cases are from the north corporation zone while 397 are from the Rohini zone alone.