The Times of India 19.08.2010
Faced with hostile crowd in Jamia Nagar, Mayor beats hasty retreat
NEW DELHI: With a growing number of dengue cases being reported from Jamia Nagar, mayor P R Sawhney on Wednesday decided to take stock of the situation by visiting the area. However, he was forced to leave within 10 minutes. Angry residents attacked the mayor and protested against MCD, asking Sawhney why he bothered coming to the area at all.
Sawhney, along with Leader of MCD House Subhash Arya, health department officials and mediapersons, reached Jamia Nagar around 12.30pm. Local Congress councillor Mohammad Jamaluddin briefed him about the problems of lack of sanitation in the area and the rising number of dengue cases. The councillor demanded that a special dengue check-up centre be set up at the MCD dispensary in the area.
However, trouble started when Arya told the gathering that MCD was not in a position to clean a big drain running through the locality as it belongs to the UP irrigation department. This enraged the locals, who were demanding that the nullah be desilted, and a heated argument followed.
Members of local residents welfare association (RWA) started protesting and soon a scuffle broke out between the locals and MCD delegation members. The residents said if the drain belonged to UP why had the mayor bothered coming to the area at all. With Sawhney caught in between, his security officials whisked him away in a car, along with Arya.
Locals accused MCD of being negligent and careless. In a nearby area, Republican Party of India (RPI) activists burnt an effigy of the civic body.
Debris and silt were seen strewn all around and there was accumulation of rainwater, making the area a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The councillor said only 14 sanitation workers are assigned for the area, which has a population of over two lakh and there was no supervisory staff. “The drain, though it belongs to UP irrigation department, is cleaned by us every year. But this time, MCD had neither the money nor the staff. We cleaned some of it using our own resources,” said Jamaluddin. During inspection, a vehicle-mounted fogging machine could be seen spraying larvicides in the area.
Later, the mayor told reporters that the attack by residents may have been planned. Said Sawhney: “There was a lot of unauthorized construction going on the area which might have led to the increase in the dengue cases in Jamia Nagar. We will deploy more sanitation and domestic breeding checkers in the area.”
The mayor had decided to conduct the inspection following reports of a surge in dengue cases in Jamia Nagar and Okhla. The councillor claimed there are about 500 suspected dengue patients admitted in hospitals and about five deaths have occurred due to the vector-borne disease.
According to MCD officials, however, there are only two suspected dengue deaths and 28 cases have been reported in the two wards.
