BERHAMPUR: Amid poor sanitation measures, Berhampur city is now troubled by mosquito menace.
The Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) usually cleans drains in the city before and after monsoon. But this year, it skipped the exercise for reasons best known to authorities concerned. As if this was not enough, the civic body has just one fogging machine which is fitted to a tractor.
The machine is not adequate to serve all wards in the city. Corporator Surendra Maharana said fogging was done in a few areas of the city during Durga Puja and it worked due to the hot weather. But now the temperature is dipping and it provides a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, he said.
BeMC had bought 40 hand-held fogging machines which were given to sanitary inspectors and jemadars of the wards. However, the machines malfunctioned and have not yet been repaired.
BeMC deputy commissioner Ashirbad Parida had said BeMC will buy six hand-held fogging machines and one TIFA machine once the proposal gets the nod at the council meeting of the civic body. But even as several council meetings have been held, the proposal is yet to get the nod. The process of checking mosquito breeding involved spraying of insecticide and release oof gambusia and guppy fish which feed on larvae in drains. But such exercises are alien to the civic body which keeps shifting the blame for the state of affairs to the Health and Family Welfare department.
Spraying of oils like MLO in all wards of the city is an uphill staff for the 25 field staff of BeMC. The staff are already over-burdened with work and look after two wards daily, said an employee of the civic body on condition of anonymity.
District vector-borne disease control officer Sujit Kumar Karji said senior officials have been apprised of shortage of staff in the civic body. He said drains in the city have not been cleaned as it is not possible to removed lids on them. But, mayor Sanghamitra Dalai said spraying of insecticide can be done by drilling holes on drain covers.
She assured to discuss the matter with the technical staff of the civic body. Sources said most officials of BeMC visit various parts of the city daily as the log books of their vehicles reveal. But garbage dumped on roadside and water stagnated at localities somehow miss their attention.