SC unhappy over Delhi meet on chikungunya, dengue; LG holds another meet (Roundup)

After being pulled up by the Supreme Court, Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung held a second meeting at Raj Niwas on Thursday with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and several senior officers to review the situation related to spread of vector-borne diseases in Delhi.

The second meeting was held after the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure at lack of any concrete outcome after the meeting held on Wednesday over the issue.

During the meeting on Thursday, discussion was held on various measures to tackle the problem of dengue, chikungunya and other vector-borne diseases.

The government will formulate an action plan based on the discussions and place it before the Supreme Court, a statement from the LG's office said.

The statement added that the details of the action plan shall be made public in due course of time.

Amicus curiae Colin Gonsalves also attended the meeting and made several suggestions.

"The suggestions made by learned Amicus Curiae Colin Gonsalves were taken up for discussion and largely agreed upon by all present," the statement said.

Earlier in the day, a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Amitava Roy expressed displeasure over the Wednesday's meeting. A suggestion was put forth that another meeting could be held at 5.30 p.m. on Thursday.

Accepting the suggestion, the bench said the meeting should focus on the steps to deal with the situation.

"We expect the participants to arrive at a time frame within which all necessary steps will be taken and as to who will be responsible for their implementation... We also expect the efforts to be consultative, collaborative and cooperative," the bench added.

The court said the meeting will also discuss the "preventive steps for any contingency that may arise in the near future".

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was present at the first meeting, did not attend the meeting on Thursday citing health reasons.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendra Jain.

Secretary (Health) C.K. Mishra, Chief Secretary S. N. Sahai, New Delhi Municipal Council Chairperson Naresh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Delhi Cantonment Board and DMRC Director were among those present.

The next hearing of the Supreme Court will be on October 17.

--IANS

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