The BJP on Wednesday took out a rally in Kolkata to protest against the spurt in dengue cases in the city and its fringe areas and accused the Trinamool Congress government of trying to "hush up" the figures.
The protest march, convened by BJP Yuva Morcha, has been taken out from Central Avenue in the city and was scheduled to culminate at Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters, with the gherao of the civic office.
"The state government has been deliberately trying to hush up the figures (of those killed and affected). The government and the KMC are more keen on hiding the actual numbers rather than taking steps to tackle the menace," state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who led the rally, told reporters.
Police sources, however, said that barricades have been set up near Chandni Chowk Metro station to stop the rally beyond that point. Things turned violent when the police used water cannons to disperse BJP workers. The protesters were demanding a 'dengue free' Kolkata among other things.
The saffron party said it wanted to submit a memorandum to Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim regarding the dengue menace and, if stopped, the party would resort to a sit-in demonstration.
As many as 21,000 dengue cases were reported from Kolkata and its adjoining areas since October 24, a report of the state health department has revealed.
As per a government official, 25 people have died of dengue in the state since January.
