The Hindu         11.10.2014      

Cleanliness drive begins

The Salem Corporation has intensified its campaign for dengue prevention and control in the wake of monsoon season.

Over 225 people, including workers of the malaria eradication programme, members of women self-help groups, have been involved in vigorous campaigning for the past few days to check dengue. The focus of the measures is on source reduction and fogging operation.

The corporation has mobilised these workers to conduct house-to-house survey for gathering information and also for mass education programme to contain the disease in the city limits.

Special teams formed by K.V. Arjun Kumar, City Health Officer, have been visiting the residences in all the four zonal divisions of the corporation — Hasthampatti, Ammapettai, Sooramangalam and Kondalampatti to identify the breeding places of mosquitoes and destroy it and create awareness among people on the simple steps to be followed to eradicate the disease.

In its search for measures to prevent this disease, the civic body decided to attack the problem at its roots and has trained its guns on the source — the household water storage facilities.

The special teams visit every house and create awareness on sanitation. Focus is also on reducing the number of potential breeding grounds for the dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes, which usually thrive on stagnant water on discarded tyres, indoor plant pots, grinding stones, coconut shells, broken utensils and bottles, old plastic bags, and drainages.

They identify the old tyres, and other articles which store waste water, remove them from the premises instantly and deposit them in the corporation lorry that follows.

Fogging machines have been pressed into service and the fogging operation is carried out inside the houses. This will be a continuous operation, Corporation sources told The Hindu on Friday.

The initiative of the Corporation has been well received by the local people.