Mosquito menace has turned severe in the city in recent days. Although the city corporations were reported to have taken some measures to control it, mosquitoes are everywhere -- be it the airports, hospital, slums or bedrooms in posh areas. This tiny insect is unleashing a reign of terror across the country.
Mosquito coil, spray, electric bat or fogging machines are failing to be of any relief from the mosquito menace. From evening to dusk, its invasion continues unabated. The intensity of the menace is reported to be more serious than the last year.
A large number of people of the city suffered from Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease in the middle of last year. Due to increase in mosquito populations, city dwellers fear that mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Chikungunya may also spread this year. However, spokesmen of the two city corporations said there is nothing to be afraid of. Special programmes have been taken to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes, they claimed.
Due to Chikungunya outbreak last year, the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) opened a call centre number and provides free medical treatment and medicines for people suffering from Chikungunya at home. Later, the corporation also opened free physiotherapy service for Chikungunya patients.
There is no denying that the two city corporations have adequate manpower and funds to tackle the situation, but the citizens did not see any special programme to control the mosquito population. There were little activities to clean water-bodies and drains. Also, there is a lack of monitoring by the top officials.
However, the authorities indicated that a new crash programme will be taken again from today (Thursday) March 15 with the introduction of a new medicine. Such medicine will be sprayed in the breeding grounds of the mosquito. Besides the crash programme, five-day special programme would be conducted from this month in five zones of the city.
The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has recently launched a hotline to conduct the mosquito eradication programme. City dwellers living in DNCC areas can call the number from 9:00am to 5:00pm everyday and ask for spraying medicine in their respective areas to eradicate mosquitos. The DNCC authority would spray medicine in the area within 24 hours of receiving the call, according to reports.
There are 2,700 bighas of water-bodies under the two city corporations and most of them remain clogged with dirt -- a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Last year, DSCC and DNCC came under fire for their failure to tackle the problem by the media and the people.
For the current fiscal year, The DSCC allocated Tk 256 million and the DNCC Tk 200 million for mosquito control programmes. The lion's share of the money has already been spent on medicines and insecticides. Despite such huge allocations, there is hardly any result. The DSCC did also fail to clean about 421 bighas of water-bodies. The DNCC has 2,250 bighas of water bodies, most of which remain crammed with dirt.
City dwellers' sufferings increase due to apparent lack of timely measures by the city corporations to address the issue. The most worrying part is that the mosquitoes are now travelling to high floors in multi-storied buildings. The majority of buildings in posh neighbourhoods, including Banani, Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Baridhara and Uttara have mosquito nets in windows. Yet reports say mosquitoes are penetrating through the window nets.
Many city dwellers fear a return of chikungunya and dengue due to large-scale breeding of mosquitoes. The spread of mosquito-borne diseases has increased manifold over the last few years.
It is really shocking to note that the two city corporations are spending millions of taka every year on preventing mosquito breeding in the capital. Most of this money is going down the drains due to half-hearted approaches of the authorities and corrupt practices of a number of corporation officials.
