Kejriwal invites Health Min to join anti-dengue drive

Days after he hit out at the AAP government over regularisation of unauthorised colonies, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan was on Monday invited by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to participate in the anti-dengue campaign and make it a "huge success".

In a letter to Vardhan, the Delhi chief minister also urged him to direct central government employees to participate in his government's '10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute' campaign against the disease.

Last week, Vardhan had blasted the Kejriwal government at a press conference, accusing it of doing nothing to regularise unauthorised colonies in the city and "betraying" poor people living there.

Kejriwal has invited the Union Health Minister to participate in the dengue awareness campaign, '10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute', aimed to ensure the prevention of vector-borne diseases in the national capital, a statement from the CM's office said.

"I invite you and all central government ministers to participate in this campaign. Your participation will inspire many others to participate," Kejriwal wrote to Vardhan.

The chief minister informed that the Delhi government has directed its employees to participate in the campaign and check their homes at 10 am every Sunday and their offices at 11 am every Friday for stagnant water.

"I would, therefore, request you to issue a similar appeal to all the central government employees since a large number of the Centre's officers and employees reside in the city," Kejriwal wrote.

Highlighting the need for public participation to make the fight against dengue a huge success, the chief minister recalled that the initiative of 'Odd-Even' in the fight against air pollution was a success due to collective efforts of everybody.

"I would like to remind you that in January 2016, the Odd-Even scheme for reducing air pollution became a huge success due to the collective efforts of all of us, when everyone agreed not to use their vehicles on stipulated days," he wrote.

Kejriwal urged Vardhan to make the ongoing campaign a "huge success" like the odd-even scheme in 2016, claiming that Delhiites have kept dengue and chikungunya successfully under check during the last three years and can bring it further down this year.

The anti-dengue campaign of the AAP government was launched on September 1. It will continue till mid-November, involving people to check for stagnant water in their houses and surroundings for 10 minutes at 10 am on Sundays to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.