The government is said to take various initiatives to prevent dengue. But every year the number of dengue patients and deaths in the country is increasing. It is feared that dengue will appear on a large scale this year as well. In such a situation, the Minister of Local Government. Tajul Islam said, the deficiencies of the steps taken to prevent dengue are being reviewed.

This was said by the local government minister during the ‘Meet the Reporters’ function at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) auditorium on Thursday. The event organized by DRU was chaired by the president of the organization Syed Shukur Ali and moderated by general secretary Mohi Uddin.

In response to the question of what steps the government is taking to prevent dengue, Tajul Islam said, “The severity of dengue has been increasing since 2019. Countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India are already dealing with dengue. I learned from them what they did. Taking them into account, extensive initiatives have been taken. We are reviewing whether there is any deficiency in the initiatives we have taken to prevent dengue.

In 2023, all dengue records were broken. 3 lakh 21 thousand 27 people were infected with dengue. Among them, 1 thousand 705 people died. Based on last year’s experience, public health experts, entomologists and government officials have been expressing fears since the beginning of this year that dengue will emerge on a large scale this year as well. From January to May 22, 2,683 people were infected with dengue. Among them, 33 people died.

Regarding the coordination between the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Health to prevent dengue, the local government minister said, “I will not evaluate the success and failure of the health department, otherwise the lack of coordination will increase.” I will not interfere in their work. There is not much to do to prevent dengue. People have been alerted before.

Referring to the suffering of uncoordinated road digging by various service organizations, Tajul Islam said that the city was developed in an unplanned and traditional way. When an organization gets money, everyone will plan and work together, so coordination can be completed, it will not be realistic. However, in the last 10 years, uncoordinated drilling has decreased significantly.

Extensive road network of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) across the country. A large part of these rural roads has become unusable due to lack of maintenance. In this context, Tajul Islam said that roads are damaged more due to rain and floods. Several roads are damaged, that’s right. Attempts are being made to increase the allocation for LGEDK maintenance sector in the upcoming budget.

In an event in June last year, the local government minister said that the government has decided to give a 10 percent house tax (holding tax) discount to people who grow gardens on the roofs of the city corporations of the country. However, no circular has been issued in this regard till now.

Tajul Islam said on the occasion, “I think, it has been notified about the exemption of domestic tax on rooftop garden.” The city corporation has been asked to give concessions. If there is no notification, I will take action where it is stuck.’ Later, the minister’s office informed that there was no notification about the tax exemption on the roof garden. A meeting will be held on the matter soon.