BHUBANESWAR: Mapping the mosquito density in the Capital City has been affected with three of the four sanctioned posts of Insect Collector (IC) lying vacant. The tiresome work is being managed by only one IC appointed by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Sources said the IC is finding it difficult to cover all 67 Wards under BMC. An accurate mosquito density gives an idea about the breeding zones and places where number of adult mosquitoes is high.
By mapping the mosquito density, BMC formulates its course of action to tackle increasing mosquito menace in the city.
Ideally, mosquito density should be monitored on an everyday basis to give a real time idea about the increase or decrease in the number of mosquitoes in different pockets of the city.
To study the mosquito density, about 10 residential houses are taken as the sample size. The counting is usually done inside the residential houses by the IC early in the morning. Even if the IC manages to cover one Ward per day, it would take him more than 60 days to cover the entire city. This defeats the very purpose of conducting a survey for gauging mosquito density.
Ideally, there should be four ICs for every 10 Wards or 50 sq km area for effective and real time monitoring of mosquito density, a senior official said. But BMC has a sanctioned strength of only four ICs for 67 Wards which is grossly inadequate.
BMC City Health Officer Chandrika Prasad Das said the three posts have been lying vacant since he joined office two and a half years back. He added that though information about mosquitoes should be updated everyday, acute shortage of manpower makes it difficult. BMC has asked the higher authorities to fill up the vacant posts but to no avail, he added.
Mosquito menace is a major problem for the residents of the Capital. Despite repeated complaints and reports about increasing mosquitoes in the Capital City, the Corporation is yet to take any concrete step on the issue.