BHUBANESWAR: After drawing flak over growing mosquito menace in the city ahead of the FIH Men's World Cup next month, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on Thursday drew an action plan to fight the crisis. BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange said chemical spraying will be intensified and drones put to use to spray mosquito larvicidal oil (MLO) in inaccessible areas.
"Teams have been augmented to intensify fogging drive in different parts of the city and bush cutting will be taken up in mosquito prone areas. The dry day initiative launched in the city to carry out source reduction drive and destroy breeding grounds of mosquito twice a week will also be enforced, he informed.
Mosquito menace this year has assumed an alarming proportion in the city taking two lives apart from affecting thousand others. The source reduction and fogging drive of BMC which remained sporadic after monsoon, has worsened the situation.
BMC officials admitted that the mosquito density in the city that should have been below 5 unit per a man hour has been 8 or more in most of the places. An official from the health wing of BMC attributed sporadic rain and late withdrawal of monsoon as the reason behind menace. They however, admitted that badly managed public and private buildings and household premises are turning into breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
BMC deputy commissioner for sanitation Suvendu Kumar Sahoo said fogging will be taken up in at least nine wards a day. Apart from existing six vehicle-mounted machines we will hire three more vehicles to expedite it, he said, adding, at least one portable fogging machine for two wards will be used to tackle the problem.
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