Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Monday summoned the Chief Health Officials of the two city corporations of Dhaka to appear in the court to inform about the steps taken by them in preventing outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases like Dengue and Chikungunya and eliminating the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes in the capital.
The HC bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Shohrowardi passed the order after hearing on a Suo Moto rule issued by this bench on July 14 that ordered the respondents of the rule to submit a report about the steps taken by them to prevent Dengue and Chikungunya and to destroy the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquitoes by July 22.
The report was submitted in the HC bench yesterday, but, the court was unhappy with the report.
Assistant Attorney General Saira Firoz represented the state during the hearing.
Expressing dissatisfaction at the steps taken in preventing Dengue outbreak in the capital, the HC bench summoned the Chief Health Officials of Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations to appear in the court on July 25.
During yesterday’s hearing, the HC said, “There is no example in any other country of the world wherein the HC issues rule to kill mosquitoes, but we did.”
“It was reported in the newspapers that already 26 people died recently from Dengue fever. The number was 6/7 when we issued the rule. People are being hospitalised, but you are not doing anything. Whatever you write in the reports, the fact is that people are going to hospital. You cannot send a man to the hospital forcefully, can you? Do journalists write lies?” said the HC.
Lawyer of the City Corporations told the court, “The City Corporations have taken various measures to raise public awareness.”
Then the court said, “What will happen with public awareness? Are you aware? Then talk about the awareness of the people. And if you can’t, then come here with an application, and we issue a rule on the people to be aware.”
On July 14, the same HC bench issued the Suo Moto rule directing the authorities to take effective steps within 24 hours to eradicate Aedes mosquitoes from the capital and take preventive measures to stop the spread of Dengue and Chikungunya and other similar diseases in the city.
In the rule, the HC also asked the respondents to explain within four weeks as to why their inaction to eliminate Aedes mosquitoes and stop the spread of Dengue, Chikungunya and similar other diseases in the city should not be declared illegal and as to why actions should not be taken against the persons responsible for failing to take effective steps for preventing those diseases.
The bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Shohrowardi issued the rule after a number of reports were published in the daily newspapers.
According to the reports, hundreds of people in the city are suffering from Dengue, Chikungunya and similar other diseases due to inaction of the authorities, especially the two city corporations, the court said in the order.
Official sources and those at Dhaka Medical College Hospital have reportedly said, more than 100 people are being hospitalized in the city every day with Dengue and Chikungunya fever. Unofficial sources report the number is higher, the HC said.
The HC had also directed Assistant Attorney Generals Zaidy Hasan Khan and Saira Firoz to communicate with the Mayors of DNCC and DSCC immediately in this regard. It added that unless something was done to stop those diseases, there would be an epidemic.
