With over 30 confirmed dengue cases and death of one patient so far, the holy town of Rishikesh and its nearby areas are witnessing a veritable outbreak of the dreaded vector-borne disease.

The virus of dengue is very active in the town and the residents are of the firm belief that the actual number of the people afflicted with the disease is much higher than what the official figures suggest.  Compounding the woes of the people, the administration appears to be sleeping over the menace, letting the disease strike deeper. Notably, the densely populated area in and around Rishikesh  has a peculiar location spread   over three administrative zones. While Rishikesh town itself falls in Dehradun district Chauda Bigha area and beyond on the Badrinath Road and Dhalwala fall into Tehri district and the area across Ganga is in Pauri Garhwal district. It is very difficult for a normal observer to identify the district boundaries for the highly populated urban area in and around Rishikesh town and these tangled administrative boundaries is giving the official machinery the convenient excuse for its blissful slumber.  

Sudhir Panchbhyaya, a local Journalist, grumbled that while it is one of the worst outbreaks of the dreaded disease no administrative activity to combat the menace is visible here. “The entire population of Rishikesh is feeling as if they are living on the mercy of God. The muddled location of the dengue-affected area is making the district administrations of Dehradun, Tehri and Pauri to look the other way while dengue is fast spreading its dreaded wings around.  Add to it the fact that the civic body of the town is now defunct and the picture of our vulnerability would be complete,” he said despairingly.

Surendra Singh Panwar, a resident of Chauda Bigha area, echoed the same and said that the administrative apathy is to blame for the grim state of things. 

Quizzed over the matter, the district vector- borne diseases officer Dehradun, Subhash Joshi admitted that a large number of cases of the disease has been reported from  Rishikesh town. “However, the teams of the department are regularly visiting the area and all the measures to control the disease are being taken,” he claimed.

The district Malaria officer (DMO) of Tehri district, Krishna Pangti claimed that the spray of insecticide is  being done by her team in Chauda Bigha and Dhalwala areas. “Asha workers have been asked to visit the localities affected by the disease and engage in Source Reduction (SR) of the Aedes mosquito, the vector of the disease,” she said. Importantly, the only reported dengue death of the state so far this season is from the Chauda Bigha area.

11 new dengue cases

On Saturday, the state medical health and family welfare department reported 11 new cases of the disease. The department data reveals that four samples each from Dehradun and Tehri districts, two from Haridwar and one sample from Nainital district were found positive for the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ( ELISA) test on the day. With the new cases, the total number of the dengue patients in the state this season has mounted to 86. Dehradun with 25 cases and Tehri with 24 cases of the disease are leading the table while 21 cases of dengue have so far been reported from Haridwar district.