Meanwhile, the LG office issued a statement saying it "strongly rebuts" the charges made against it and attributed Mr. Jung's absence to lack of prior appointment.

The politics over vector-borne diseases which continue to grip the Capital came to the fore yet again here on Saturday after Delhi’s Health and Water Minister questioned the Lieutenant-Governor’s commitment to remedying the situation.

Hours after he issued urgent instructions to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia summoning him to Delhi from Finland, where he is on an official tour, Delhi’s Health and Water Ministers turned up outside his office in Civil Lines on Saturday afternoon and questioned his absence.

“Given the urgency of which he had referred to in his fax to Mr. Sisodia, we thought he had come up with some significant plan to combat dengue and chikungunya in Delhi so we rushed here to meet him,” said Water Minister Kapil Mishra outside the LG Secretariat on Raj Niwas Marg.

“But when we came here we were told that he’s not in office as today is a Saturday; that’s when I called his residence and was told that he wasn’t at home either and was away,” added Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

Both Ministers then questioned Mr. Jung’s “absence” in the wake of summons sent by him to Mr. Sisodia on Friday evening. They also claimed that they were in regular touch with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was monitoring the dengue and chikungunya situation in Delhi, over phone from Bengaluru where he was operated upon earlier this week.

“He [the LG] wants all of Delhi’s Ministers to be here but he’s not even available at home; for his information, all of Delhi’s mohalla clinics and hospitals are functioning round the clock and officials’ leaves have been cancelled. Why is the LG summoning Mr. Sisodia when he is not at work himself,” Mr. Mishra said.

“I’m in regular touch with the Chief Minister on phone and he is seeking minute by minute updates about dengue and chikungunya cases in Delhi; while he and Mr. Sisodia might be away, why doesn’t the LG speak to me, the Health Minister, who is in Delhi?” Mr. Jain demanded.

Meanwhile, the LG office issued a statement “strongly” rebutting the charges made against it and attributed Mr. Jung’s absence to lack of prior appointment. “Hon’ble Minister Sh. Satyendra Jain and Hon’ble Minister Sh. Kapil Mishra came to the Lt. Governor’s office at 11.45 AM on 17th September without either seeking prior appointment from the Lt. Governor or intimating him of their visit,” the statement said. Adding that the Secretary to the LG met the Ministers, Raj Niwas also sought to clarify that the LG’s office “is operational on all days of the week.”

“They [the Ministers] neither submitted any letter nor gave any representation to the Lt. Governor. It is regrettable that at a time when Delhi is facing such a serious public health crisis, the elected government is choosing to politicise the issue instead of providing succour to the public,” the statement added.