High Court asks Delhi for proper utilization of Dengue funds

On Friday, The Delhi High Court asked the Delhi government for proper utilisation of funds that was released to civic bodies to control the dengue menace.

A bench division of Chief Justice Jayant Nath and Justice G. Rohini also asked the government to work with all departments and make sure that dengue and malaria control programmes were implemented properly in the city.

High Court asks Delhi for proper utilization of Dengue funds

The order from the High Court came after a PIL was filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken, as he has accused the municipal corporations and Aam Aadmi Party government of not being adequately prepared to control dengue.

Through advocates Mudit Gupta and Aman Panwar, Maken, told the court that the government allocated Rs.81.52 crore towards dengue and malaria control programmes but released only half of the funds to municipal corporations on September 22, which is a day after the court’s intervention.

However, the government, in their defence has told the court that Rs.60 crore was released to the three municipal corporations for sanitation programmes to deal with the dengue outbreak.

Amounting to 25 percent, the first installment of grant-in-aid of the total funds was allocated to the three corporations on September 17, said Rahul Mehra, government counsel. And the second installment of fifty a percent was released on September 22 of last month.

On September 29, Delhi High Court had said it will issue immediate directions to control the outbreak of dengue in Delhi.

Two similar PILs has been kept pending by the court, that includes one seeking direction to lodge an FIR against directors of hospitals who refused treatment to a boy, 7, who died of dengue and whose parents subsequently committed suicide by juming off a cliff.