Pune’s dengue response has come under scrutiny after an eight-year-old girl and an elderly woman died following dengue infections, while officials were unable to provide the civic standing committee with basic information on cases, deaths and high-risk areas. The committee has asked the Pune Municipal Corporation’s health department to take urgent measures and submit a comprehensive report within eight days.
The issue was raised at the standing committee meeting held on Thursday, October 22, by Nationalist Congress Party corporators Suhas Tingre and Amol Balwadkar and Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Nisha Manwatkar. They questioned the health department on the number of dengue cases in the city over the past two months, the number of deaths, locations reporting higher infections and steps taken to identify mosquito-breeding sites.
The corporators also sought details of preventive measures, including powder spraying and the work being carried out by 265 employees recruited by the insect control department without the standing committee’s approval. According to the report, municipal health officials could not provide clear answers during the meeting and repeatedly said that the information would be collected.
The deaths were identified as part of the committee’s discussion. The eight-year-old girl was from Lohegaon, while the elderly woman was from Gokhalenagar. Additional Municipal Commissioner Pavneet Kaur said the civic administration had obtained information about the girl’s death and that she had comorbidities. She also confirmed that the elderly woman from Gokhalenagar had died of dengue.
Following the meeting, Kaur convened an urgent meeting with health-department officials and directed all regional offices to implement dengue-control measures. The health department was also instructed to collect patient data from government and private hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities. The move is intended to create a more complete picture of infections across the city, according to the report.
The committee’s questions highlight the administrative importance of timely disease surveillance in a large city. Without consolidated information on cases, deaths and geographic concentration, municipal teams may find it difficult to prioritise inspections, identify mosquito-breeding locations or direct preventive work to neighbourhoods facing the greatest risk.
Standing committee chairman Shrinath Bhimale criticised the department’s lack of information and sought a comprehensive report. He questioned how the civic administration could manage the outbreak when officials could not answer basic questions about dengue cases, deaths and control measures.
The municipal health department has been given eight days to report on the measures taken to control dengue in Pune. The report is expected to include information gathered from healthcare facilities and details of action by the city’s regional offices and insect-control teams.
