05 July,2011 07:08 AM IST | | Priyanka Vora
The civic body had threatened legal action against landowning bodies which flouted its anti-malaria guidelines, but has not enforced these in the premises of the KEM Hospital, which it runs
The civic body has lately had its antennae out, hunting out major land owning authorities in the city, ready to sting if even one is found violating the mosquito control regulations set by it.
Amidst all this muscle-flexing, the civic body has evidently forgotten the dictum, "practice what you preach."
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The old and discarded materials dumped in the premises of KEM Hospital
An ample illustration of this fact is found when one visits the premises of the civic- run KEM Hospital in Parel, which blatantly flouts the BMC guidelines for mosquito prevention.
Over the past week, the grounds of the recently renovated hospital have worn a ravaged appearance.
Strewn all over the hospital yard are old, discarded waste articles and discarded furniture, including cupboards, drawers, and wheelchairs, which have been dumped unceremoniously within the premises. And from the looks of it, no arrangements have been made to ensure their speedy disposal.
This is a flagrant display of double standards by the civic body, which has recently sent warnings to various government land owning authorities in the city sternly instructing them to keep their premises free of any objects that could serve as potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
In April, the civic body convened a meeting with representatives of the city's five largest landholders the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), National Textile Corporation (NTC), the army, the railways, and slum dwellers, asking them to ensure that their premises were free of spots conducive for mosquito breeding.
The BMC also issued stringent guidelines to each of the authorities, the primary injunction being that no articles and objects should be left exposed in a manner that would allow rainwater to accumulate and encourage subsequent breeding of mosquito larvae.
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In fact, the civic body's insecticide department had also threatened legal action against those bodies that failed to keep their premises mosquito free.
While taking its aggressive stance, the BMC had cited the two provisions in the BMC Act, under sections 381 and 381(A), which allow the civic body to prosecute any public body that allows water to stagnate, creating fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes in the process.
There is ample irony in the fact that the BMC can now be sued under these very provisions, guilty for flouting the rules that it had boldly set itself.
When team MiD DAY visited the hospital, the premises wore the appearance of a veritable wasteland, with more than 100 different articles of furniture, including chairs and drawers, dumped near the building opposite the hospital's main dispensary. Patients and relatives who have to collect medications frequent this spot.
The Other Side
When contacted, Dr Arun Bamne, insecticide department, BMC, said, "Our anti-larvae measures must have been followed within the hospital premises. I cannot comment further."
Dr N D Bhosale, Deputy Dean of KEM Hospital, said, "I am aware of the presence of these articles. They have been accumulating for quite a while, but we are in the process of disposing them."
