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Public Health / Sanitation

Civic work creates mosquito dens

Thursday, 30 August 2012 10:37 administrator
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The Times of India   30.08.2012

Civic work creates mosquito dens

KOLKATA: If dengue is threatening to turn into an epidemic, blame among other factors the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's (KMC) beautification drive. Rampant digging of the pavements or roads to build the median verges has turned some areas into perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes dengue breeds in clear, stagnant water, conceded a KMC health department official on Wednesday.

Take New Alipore for instance. The KMC started pavement beautification work here a couple of months ago, after the arrival of the monsoon. The work is going on in full swing now amid sporadic rains, with obvious results. Several breeding grounds have been created between the New Alipore petrol pump and Taratala.

Anoop Mitra, a local resident, alleged that despite taking up the matter with the local civic administration, the KMC top brass did not bother either to stop the beautification work for the moment or to take adequate measures for killing the larvae.

"Dengue, malaria and other vector-borne diseases are bound to break out as the civic body's endeavour to beautify the pavement along New Alipore Road has created several breeding grounds," Mitra said.

Similar breeding grounds have been created along the median verge of Sarat Bose Road and on Rashbehari Avenue along which beautification work is under way. Chittaranjan Avenue is no exception. Here, the beautification work that started a month ago has created several breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

"There is no denying the fact that these breeding grounds that were created because of digging of roads have invited dengue in a major way. The KMC authorities need to keep a tab on these breeding grounds to avert further spreading of the dreaded disease," said Sarmila Bose, a private practitioner and a resident of College Street.

Atin Ghosh, the member, mayor-in-council, conceded that indiscriminate digging of roads or rampant construction were responsible for a sharp rise in the number of dengue cases. "We have decided to take up the matter with officials of other civic departments," Ghosh said. 
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 August 2012 10:40
 

HUDA pays over and over; clean-up bill Rs 61L

Thursday, 30 August 2012 10:35 administrator
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The Times of India   30.08.2012

HUDA pays over and over; clean-up bill Rs 61L

Gurgaon: HUDA has claimed to have spent over Rs 61 lakh in three months for sanitation and cleaning up of roads in over eight sectors in Gurgaon.

In its reply to an RTI filed by Raman Sharma, HUDA gave area-wise details of the expenditure and payments made for sanitation and clean-up works on roads and sectors by private contractors. In the first three months, Rs 17 lakh, Rs 17 lakh and Rs 26 lakh were paid to over a dozen different contractors.

According to HUDA's response, between January and March, Sheetla Mata road and Palam Vihar road was cleaned up by different contractors five times.

"The condition of these two roads, however, has not improved much but HUDA kept on paying the contractor again and again without checking the quality of work," said Sharma. In January the two roads were cleaned twice by two different contractors.

The RTI reply stated that in January HUDA paid O P Sharma Contractors Rs 4.47 lakh for working in Sectors 5, 6, 12, 12A,18, Sheetla Mata Mandir Road and Palam Vihar Road. Interestingly, the same month another contractor Ansh Enterprises was paid Rs 4.91 lakh for carrying out sanitation and cleaning up of the roads in 12, 12A, 5 and Sheetla Mata Mandir Road and Palam Vihar Road.

In the same month another contractor, M/s Ram Premi Contractor, was paid Rs 4.69 lakh for working in Sector 22 alone.

In February, roads in Sectors 22, 23, 23A, 5, 12 and 12A were cleaned up by different contractors. The two roads, Sheetla Mata and Palam Vihar, were also cleaned up. The RTI reply also revealed that the contractor, Ram Premi, alone was paid thrice, totally over Rs 8 lakh for cleaning up 23 and 23A. "It is worth noticing that all the work was sanctioned on the same day (23 January 2012) for Sector 23 and 23A. The HUDA officials blindly sanctioned the works and made the payments," said the RTI activist.

The expenditure swelled drastically in March and rose to Rs 26 lakh for the eight sectors falling under HUDA division (2). The maximum payment, Rs 4.97 lakh to B P Sharma Contractor for cleaning up roads was made for Sectors 3, 6, 5, 12A and Sheetla Mata Mandir Road.

Work on Sector 22 roads was given twice to another contractor, Dharamvir Singh Contractor, and payments of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3.04 lakh were made by HUDA. The same contractor was paid Rs 2.51 lakh for clean-up work in March this year.
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 August 2012 10:36
 

Rampur civic body stops hospital aid, grants dole to Azam’s trust

Tuesday, 28 August 2012 11:23 administrator
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The Indian Express   28.08.2012

Rampur civic body stops hospital aid, grants dole to Azam’s trust

 

Trust

THE Municipal Board of Rampur has sanctioned a grant of Rs 15 lakh annually to Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Trust, which is headed by Minister of Urban Development Azam Khan with his wife Tazeen Fatima as its secretary. The municipal board falls under the Urban Development Ministry.

Significantly, the municipal board has stopped the grant of Rs one lakh given annually to K D Dalmiya Eye Hospital in Rampur for treatment of poor patients. The hospital is controlled by a trust headed by the District Magistrate while the Chief Medical Officer is its secretary.

Confirming the news, municipal board chairman Azhar Ali Khan alleged that the hospital was squandering away the grant and did not help the poor, while the Jauhar Trust has been sanctioned the amount for the education of poor children. No inquiry, however, has been conducted so far into the alleged squandering of money by the hospital. “The hospital has increased the outpatient department fee from Re 1 to Rs 30. They also do not offer any rebate to poor patients. Dr Kishori Lal, who runs the hospital, also recruited his son in the hospital and made it a family business, so we have withdrawn the financial assistanc”,” said the board chairman.

He said the aid to Jauhar Trust is for education purposes only” “We have not given any money to the Jauhar University, it is for the education of poor children which will be funded by the Jauhar Trus”,” Azhar Ali Khan, who is also a member of the ruling Samajwadi Party and close to the minister, said.

The Jauhar Trust controls the Jauhar University, whose minority character has become a bone of contention between Azam and the Raj Bhawan.

The municipal boa’d’s executive officer Shahenshah Wali Khan said the decision to give Rs 15 lakh to the trust annuall” “was taken unanimously during the board’s meeting held on August 17. The financial assistance to the hospital has been stopped by the boa’d’s decision on”y”.

He did not say if any inquiry has held to ascertain fund utilisation by the hospital, which was established in 1971 by the then board chairman Ishrat Ali Khan. The Dalmia group had donated money for the construction of the

building.

At present, Dr Kishori Lal is looking after the affairs of the hospital as a member of the trust. His son Dr Vikram Lal manages the day-to-day affairs of the trust.”

“If they have any doubts about poor patients and their treatment, they are welcome any time. We submit audited account for the money which we receive from the Municipal Board. It is their decision and we cannot say much on th”s,” Vikram Lal said.

Rampur DM Anil Dhingra said he knew about the stoppage of municipal grant, but said he needed to get details from the municipal board.

There is also a political overtone to the incident. The grant to the hospital was sanctioned during the tenure of former board chairman Reshma Afroz in 1995. Her successor, Sardar Javed Ali Khan, continued it till 2011. Former chairman Ishrat Ali Khan, during whose tenure the board gave the land for the construction of the hopsital, was Reshma’s father-in-law. His son and Res’ma’s husband Afroz Ali Khan had defeated Azam in 1996. He also contested the 2012 Assembly election against Azam as a candidate of Amar Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Manch ticket, but lost.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 August 2012 11:24
 
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