Direct govt to pay Rs 5L to victims

Petitioner, KK Ramesh, in his PIL, had stated that dengue and chikungunya were spreading fast and thousands of people die every year. Government hospitals are ill-equipped to treat the disease. 

It takes three to 14 days to detect dengue and because of that hundreds of children and even elders died of the disease last year. Despite repeated deaths, the government had failed to control the spread of the disease.  Still, no basic amenities have been provided to people and drainage channels are not cleaned properly. 

This year, several cases of dengue were reported in rural areas in Madurai such as Tirumangalam, Peraiyur and so on and several people had died, but so far government had not taken any steps. 

Meantime, the Union government is trying to merge the Centre for Research in Medical Entomology at Madurai with another research centre in Puducherry. 

At the centre in Madurai, research for dengue and similar diseases is going on. People there opine that if it is merged with another research centre the activities would be affected. So, the court should direct the Union government to stop the merger. 

It should also direct the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the people who had died of dengue, prayed the petitioner.