Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has vowed to intensify efforts to prevent dengue, keep the city clean and stop illegal occupation of footpaths to ensure safe and unobstructed movement for pedestrians.
DNCC Administrator Md Shafiqul Islam Khan made the remarks on Saturday while inaugurating a mosquito-larvae destruction and weekly cleanliness campaign at Manik Mia Avenue in front of the National Parliament building.
“We are working with city residents to provide a clean, dengue-free city with footpaths free from hawkers, ensuring safe and unhindered movement,” he said.
The administrator said the DNCC had been conducting special cleanliness and public awareness drives every Saturday for the past three months, aiming to protect residents from dengue and develop Dhaka into a clean and green city.
He said DNCC health officials and magistrates were conducting drives at government buildings, residential premises and abandoned properties to identify and destroy Aedes mosquito larvae.
He urged residents to keep their homes and business establishments clean to prevent mosquito breeding.
According to the administrator, around 80 dengue patients from the DNCC area were currently receiving treatment at different hospitals. He expressed hope that coordinated awareness and preventive efforts by the city corporation and residents could bring the number of infections down to zero.
Shafiqul Islam Khan also said the DNCC was holding regular consultations with local housing societies, owners' associations and business organisations to implement the government's 90-day special programme.
On footpath management, he said an illegally occupied stretch of footpath in front of Hope Market in Ward 10 had recently been reclaimed.
He said eviction drives would continue to ensure public access to footpaths and prevent them from being occupied again.
A monitoring team comprising local residents, DNCC representatives and traffic police has been formed to prevent renewed encroachment, he added.
The administrator called on the media and people from all walks of life to cooperate with the city corporation in improving urban services and controlling mosquitoes.
DNCC's chief engineer, chief health officer, chief waste management officer, assistant chief waste management officer and regional executive officer of Zone 5, along with other officials and employees, attended the programme.
Volunteers from the Red Crescent and BD Clean, as well as residents of Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Indira Road and Rajabazar, also took part in the campaign.
