🦟 3 dengue cases on our lane and the drain is still full of water

3 people on my street in Chandanagar have had dengue in the last 2 weeks. One is my neighbour's teenage son. It doesn't feel like a coincidence anymore. There's an open drain behind our row of houses. It has had standing water in it since the monsoon started. Nobody has come to spray or clear it. The water is green and still, and I walk past it every evening on my way home. I called the GHMC helpline about 10 days ago after the second case. I gave the street name. They said someone would come for spraying. Nobody came, at least not that I saw. A few of us have started buying mosquito nets and repellent. That helps a little indoors. But the thing causing it is still sitting outside, so it feels like we're only managing the symptoms. My neighbour spent a lot on hospital tests and a short stay for her son. It really shook the whole lane. Money that a basic drain clearing could probably have saved, if it had happened a few weeks ago. I know there must be hundreds of similar calls this year. The rain has been heavy. It's just strange that a reported place, with real sick people, goes into the same line as everything else. Maybe I'm wrong about how it works. I'm only guessing from where I stand. Has anyone managed to get their area treated quickly after reporting dengue cases? Or does it only move once the number of cases goes up even more? I'll try again tomorrow and take a photo of the drain this time.

Same thing near Ameerpet last year. I complained twice about a blocked drain before anyone came to spray. By then 2 people in our building had tested positive, and the water was still sitting there. What stayed with me is how surprised the spraying team looked at how long the water had been there. It felt like our complaint never reached them clearly the first time. Maybe that's just how it works.

Our lane had 2 dengue cases last year and a few of us tried to pool money for private spraying. It fizzled after a month. A few families stopped paying and nobody wanted to be the one chasing them. I don't know if that's just us.

I doubt the case count speeds things up, Sana. My parents' colony had 4 confirmed cases in 1 season. The drain near the entrance still took almost 3 weeks to be cleared, after many calls from all of us.

Our RWA stopped waiting on GHMC and pooled money for a private team to fog every 2 weeks in monsoon. It costs each household a small amount, and the mosquitoes are down a lot compared to last year. It's not ideal that residents pay for something that should be a basic service in the city. But it works, and I'd rather have that than keep waiting for someone to turn up.