Dengue attack spreads panic in city

A survey conducted by the Praja Foundation, a voluntary organisation that works on urban and civic issues, highlighted the prevalence of the dengue virus across wards in the city.

The two-year survey, which covered about 25,000 households in the city, provided an estimate of the number of dengue cases per thousand households in each ward.

"We conducted a survey as the BMC does not have specific data about the number of dengue cases in different wards, especially in the private sector," said Milind Mhaske of Praja Foundation.

Ward A, which includes areas like Nariman Point, reported the highest number of dengue cases, followed by M/E ward – the home of Deonar dumping ground. Other wards that reported a high number of dengue cases were G/N (Dadar), G/S (Haji Ali) and H/E (Santacruz). The densely populated Mumbai suburbs have been the worst affected, especially the K-ward in Andheri West which is principally a residential area.

"The trend shows that the dengue virus has affected households in posh localities the most. The survey can help BMC understand where they should allocate resources to fight the virus," added Mhaske.

In its fight to curb the dengue menace, BMC has increased fogging activities across the city. The civic body said fogging has been conducted across 19,60,760 houses and huts in the city. The city's dengue-related death toll was 382, with a large number of patients showing dengue-like symptoms.

Despite regular fogging exercises by the BMC, Mumbai hospitals — both government and private — saw a phenomenal increase in admission of patients displaying dengue-like symptoms in August and September. This steep jump in figures points to the BMC's failure in weeding out the causes that led to the outbreak.