Says due to delay in rehabilitation, slum dwellers living in insanitary conditions.

Pawan Bansal, former union minister and ex-MP has expressed anguish over the rising number of dengue cases in the city. While he has blamed the administration for not taking adequate measures to contain the disease, he has also stressed on the fact that Chandigarh Administration has failed to rehabilitate slum dwellers, who are still being forced to live in insanitary conditions, making them prone to diseases like dengue.

The former MP said that fogging has not been done in the entire city yet while dengue cases are reported every day. The scourge has claimed two lives at city hospitals and the number of dengue patients has touched 902.

Bansal lamented that tenements for rehabilitation had been constructed years back but eligible dwellers are not being allotted those and are forced to live in insanitary conditions. He wondered what the administration is waiting for. He said that the rehabilitation of residents of Industrial Area colony 4 rehabilitation should be taken up on priority and the city should be made slum free soon.

Further preventive measures should be taken and advisories should be issued by the health department. While the official count of dengue cases in the city stands at 902, count could be much higher as many patients were visiting private hospitals and clinics. Some are even visiting quacks for treatment, hence there is an urgent need to check the same at the earliest.