SC to hear petition on chikungunya outbreak in Delhi on Sept 26

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea filed by a doctor seeking proper steps to be taken to stop the widespread disease of Chikungunya and dengue in Delhi.

The plea will be heard on September 26, said reports.

Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday slammed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) for not doing enough to stem the outbreak. 

NGT demanded to know what NDMC had been doing for 2 months even as thousands of people fell sick. It accused the NDMC of turning a blind eye to the problem.

The NGT suggested that the MCD, NDMC, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the AAP state government should meet to resolve the crisis.The tribunal also asked concerned officials to come to its office next Wednesday to take stock of admin steps taken to tackle chikungunya and dengue.

There seems to be no respite from the viral onslaught in Delhi where chikungunya cases have mounted to over 2,600, with 1,568 of them being recorded in the last one week.

According to a municipal report released on Monday, 2625 chikungunya cases have been recorded in the national capital till September 17, marking a massive rise of nearly 150 per cent from the previous count.

As per estimates by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation which tabulates the data for vector-borne disease cases in the national capital, on behalf of all the civic bodies here, 1,057 confirmed cases of chikungunya were reported till September 10.

At least 15 fatalities due to chikungunya complications have been reported at various hospitals in the city, though SDMC and Delhi government have not acknowledged these deaths yet.

Among the three corporations, SDMC has recored 304 cases, followed by 244 in areas under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 80 under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

1,283 cases have been recorded from areas falling outside the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations. Addresses were not available for 1,018 patients among these cases.

714 cases were recored from other states, according to the report.
At AIIMS laboratories, 1,748 chikungunya blood test samples have tested positive till Sunday.

The chikungunya outbreak in the national capital is the worst in the last six years.

According to municipal data, the last time the number of affected people reached three-figure mark was in 2011.

Both the AAP-held Delhi government and LG Najeeb Jung have told hospitals not to turn away patients who may be infected with chikungunya or dengue.

The AAP government has come under fire as most of its ministers were not in the capital when the outbreak of chikungunya happened.

The war of words between AAP and the Modi government has continued with AAP leaders including CM Arvind Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain have slammed LG Jung and the dispensation at the Centre for the outbreak.

The Health Minister even went so far as to claim that chikungunya itself does not cause death, and blamed the media for being 'paid' by vested interests to misreport the problem.