Karnataka high court directs govt to take anti-dengue measures

The high court on Monday disposed of a writ petition seeking proper steps to check the spread of dengue, after asking the state government to implement the host of preventive measures suggested by the petitioner.

A division bench headed by chief justice JS Khehar disposed of the PIL filed by Chandrakala Manjunath, and directed the health department to give access to the information on the steps initiated by it for tackling dengue to either the petitioner or her counsel every Wednesday for the next eight weeks.

The petitioner had filed a statement detailing the steps that needed to be taken by the government to prevent the spread of dengue. It called for notifying a designated officer or infection control authority for each cluster identified on the basis of high prevalence of the disease.

The officer/authority could then track the patients and also identify the breeding grounds of mosquitoes for immediately sanitising of the area.

The petitioner’s counsel explained to the court in the form of a flowchart on how hospitals could help in identifying the areas where dengue was rampant and these areas could become the focus of government’s targeted intervention. The court asked the government to implement the measures suggested by the petitioner.