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Environmentalists slam govt for failure to tackle dengue

Staff Correspondent
A group of environmental activists yesterday critisised the government's failure to contain dengue, and urged it to involve people from all walks of life to tackle dengue outbreak across the country.
Speaking at a rally organised by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) in front of the National Museum in Shahbagh, they termed the activities of authorities concerned in this regard "ineffective and eyewash".
Speakers at the programme said the government should integrate all local government bodies; educational, cultural, sports, business, and social institutions; public representatives and citizens to carry out urgent cleanliness programmes.
"The government is yet to take an all-out effort to tackle dengue outbreak. We demand that all government and non-government institutions across the country are engaged in this regard," said Dr Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bapa.
Mentioning that over 18,000 people were infected by dengue fever last year, while the number has crossed 60,000 this year, the Bapa secretary said, "The government is not announcing the situation as an epidemic in fear of hurting its image."
Coming down heavily on the Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation Atiqul Islam for fining house owners, he said, "These are just eyewash."
About the import of insecticides, Matin said, "There are questions on the effectiveness ofthe mosquitocides; they (city corporation authorities) are using those
without publishing the result of effectiveness tests. It is a failed project of the government"
There are allegations that city corporation officials have ignored ineffectiveness of the insecticides - as tested by icddr.b - they import from abroad.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) recently announced that it would to look into the process of importing mosquitocides between 2005 to 2019.
Urging the government to involve all citizens to control the spread of mosquito round the year, he said, "Outbreak of the Aedes mosquito-borne disease is a common problem across the world, and they [other countries] have succeeded in controlling it."
Aminur Rasul, coordinator of People's Health Movement Bangladesh said, "Despite Kolkata being a crowded city, they have succeeded in controlling the breeding of mosquitoes. So why are they [city authorities] failing here? We need united efforts."
Organisers also placed a set of demands to the government, including prompt import of effective insecticides; assigning all public representatives to integrate people from all walks of life including students; arranging awareness campaigns; sending doctors to districts and upazilas based on needs; and ensuring fair price of all dengue tests and drugs.
They also urged the people to stay aware instead of being scared over the outbreak.
Fazlur Rahman, vice-president of Doctors for Health and Environment; Mihir Biswas, joint secretary of Bapa; and Prof Ahmmed Kamruzzaman, chairman of environment science department of Stamford University - also spoke at the programme.