HC reserves order on plea to control dengue outbreak

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a PIL filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken accusing the Aam Aadmi Party government and municipal corporations of not being vigilant to control dengue.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said: "The order is reserved. We will pass appropriate order on immediate steps to be taken to deal with the dengue outbreak."

Maken, through advocates Aman Panwar and Mudit Gupta, told the court that the Delhi government allocated Rs.81.52 crore towards malaria and dengue control programmes but released 50 percent funds to municipal corporations on September 22, a day after the court's intervention.

The Delhi government has however informed the court that Rs.60 crore has been released to the three municipal corporations for sanitation programmes to deal with the dengue outbreak.

The first installment of grant-in-aid amounting to 25 percent of the total funds was allocated to the three corporations on September 17, said Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra. The second installment of 50 percent was released on September 22, he said.

The court decided to keep two similar PILs pending for October 7. One PIL sought direction to lodge an FIR against directors of hospitals which denied treatment to a seven-year-old boy who died of dengue and whose parents subsequently committed suicide.

The other PIL was filed by an advocate Arpit Bhargava seeking directions to the Delhi government to take steps to combat dengue.