JOIN USMCDs fail to curb mosquito menace
In a move aimed at providing better services, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in May. The city government decided to divide the corporation into South, North and East Delhi municipal corporations to improve administrative efficiency by decentralisation of power.
However, after seven months since the three corporations came into existence, it doesn’t seem to be the case. The rise in number of dengue cases this season is an example. The number of cases rose after a declining trend over the last few years.
Measures like checking mosquito breeding is one of the most important ways of preventing the spread of the disease. In that context, the role of dengue breeding checkers, or DBC workers, becomes most important.
If DBC workers are to be believed, trifurcation has only worsened the situation. “Earlier, if we had any issue, we had to see only one set of officials, be it the commissioner, mayor or even the medical health official,” says Ashok Chaudhary, president of DBC Workers’ Union. But now things are different, according to him.
“For example, the city government has asked municipal corporations to hire DBC workers throughout the year. Earlier, it would have been done with one stroke of the pen. But I have visited officials and political leaders of all the three corporations to get an idea of what is being done over the issue,” he says. “I deduced a clear cut difference in their approach.”
DBC workers say the difference could also be seen in clearing of files in procurement of essential goods used in fighting dengue, such as medicines and spraying equipment.
Corporation officials counter such claims. They say the problem, as far as fighting dengue is concerned, lies somewhere else and put the onus of solving it on the city government.
They say the area under the jurisdiction of the municipal bodies have increased several times over the last one decade, but the number of DBC workers sanctioned by the city government remains the same as it was in 1996.
“Over the last 15 years, the nature of a vast chunk of area of the city, especially on the outer margins, has transformed from rural to urban. Around 35 per cent of Delhi’s rural areas have become urban, resulting in a massive rise in the density of such areas,” says leader of the House in South Corporation Subhash Arya.
“In rural areas, settlements are smaller and are located at a distance from each other. But the density increases with urbanisation, leading to increase in the number of potential ponds of mosquito breeding,” says Arya.
“Now, the area to be covered by DBC workers has increased manifold, but the sanctioned numbers by the city government remains at the 1996 level,” he says.
Apart from increasing their numbers, DBC union leaders are demanding regularisation of their jobs, increase in emoluments and other benefits. “Such initiatives will help in infusing a sense of motivation, apart from fixing accountability,” says Chaudhary.