Telangana High Court takes officials to task over dengue cases

Hyderabad: The High Court of Telangana on Thursday warned of filing cases suo motu against the top officials responsible for the spate of dengue cases and the deaths due to outbreak of fatal fever across the state.

The Court observed that the government owed to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to the bereaved families of the dengue victims who succumbed.

On the directions of the Court, Chief Secretary SK Joshi, Municipal Administration Secretary Arvind Kumar, Health Secretary Shanti Kumari and GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar appeared before the court.

The division bench grilled the bureaucrats on their failure in tackling the spread of dengue and protecting people from infecting with the deadly fever.

Judges held the officials responsible for the dengue deaths and the growing number of patients. The court also pulled up the officials for showing the total number of dengue victims below the actual count. Judges were serious on the Chief Secretary for fudging the figures.

The officials will have to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the bereaved families from their own pocket if the dengue deaths are reported in the future, the court said.

The officials' inefficiency will bring bad name to the entire government. All the officials were asked to visit the Musi river, which flows from the heart of the city, when the Chief Secretary informed the court that the river was one of the main reasons for growing mosquito menace in the city.

Judges pointed out that rivers were also flowing in the middle of the cities in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, but no cases of dengue were reported there.