BMC notice to Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla on dengue breeding areas in their homes

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has served notices to three Bollywood actors and a singer after their residences in suburban Juhu and Malabar Hill here were found to be breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

The notices were served on Wednesday to Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Jitendra along with singer Amit Kumar Ganguli by the insecticide department of the civic body as part of their drive against the deadly dengue disease.

“Notices were issued after a inspecting team conducted a check at their residences and in all major places in Mumbai and found out that the bungalows of the celebrities were the breeding grounds for this deadly disease,” said Rajan Naringrekar, insecticide officer of the BMC.

According to a statement issued by the civic body, the insecticide teams have also inspected residences of Amitabh Bachchan (all four bungalows), Ranjeet, Mahesh Bhatt, Sanjay Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Shabana Azmi. All of them were found to have taken preventive measures.

BMC carries out drives throughout the year to curb dengue and malaria but during the monsoon, when the chances of water clogging goes up, it intensifies the drive.

Since January 1 to August 31, this year, 13,587 cases of mosquito breeding grounds were found and 866 people were served notices for not complying the guidelines and over looking preventive measures issued by the BMC.

Also, a fine of Rs 23.38 lakh were recovered from erring persons.

BMC takes action and magistrate levies fine under the section 381 of Bombay Municipal Act. The amount of fine varies from Rs 2000 to 10,000 depending upon the gravity of the case.

“The notice and prosecution to the actors and singer is lodged in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Jitendra Kapoor would have to pay the fine of Rs 2000 to Rs 10000 while Amit Kumar Ganguly has been served a warning notice.” .

In September, the insecticide team found 1953 breeding spots across the city, in which 1773 spots have been identified in buildings while 180 mosquito breeding spots were found in various slums, the statement said.

Meanwhile, a statement from Juhi Chawla’s spokesperson said that the matter came to a close three weeks ago itself.

“The BMC officers came for their check three weeks ago and asked us to remove the decorative Urli with water in it as they thought it could become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

That was then taken off instantly from its spot in front of the BMC official. Post that, there have been subsequent checks by the BMC where nothing was found and no complaints were given. The matter was closed three weeks ago,” it said.

Inputs by PTI