CUTTACK: After much hue and cry over growing mosquito menace in the city, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) seems to have finally woken up from its slumber, but it could be a tad too late.
The civic body is said to have constituted an eight-member rapid response team (RRT) to combat the increasing mosquito population in the city. The RRT comprises of two sanitary inspectors (SIs), three filaria inspectors (FIs), one vector-borne diseases (VBD) consultant and an assistant entomologist, while city health officer Satyabrata Mohapatra is its nodal officer.
As per the strategy chalked out by CMC, the insect collector will collect samples from two wards each day following which the mosquito density index of the area will be calculated. If the mosquito density will be found higher than the normal range, then the RTT will rush to the ward and take steps to solve the problem in 24 hours. Similarly, it has also been decided to conduct fogging twice a day (morning and evening) from Wednesday.
The civic body has also decided to release Gambusia fish in water bodies from Wednesday to control the mosquito breeding. However, the strategies chalked out by CMC have drawn flak from different quarters. “The civic body has only 15 fogging machines. How will it be able to carry out fogging across 59 wards? It is nothing but a eyewash. I cannot understand as to how the RRT will be able to eradicate mosquitoes from a ward within 24 hours. It is nothing but hollow assurance,” said former corporator Giribala Behera.
Similarly, a city based entomologist has criticised the move of the CMC to release Gambusia fish. “Generally Gambusia fishes are released to devour larvae during breeding time, which is between September and November and that has already passed. It will be a fruitless effort,” he said.
CMC commissioner Nikhil Pavan Kalyan and city health officer Mohapatra did not respond to calls for clarification.