MCD begins preparations for mosquito control ahead of monsoon

The MCD has begun its preparations to prevent mosquito breeding across its zones with increased inspections of houses, fogging activities, and special drives at hotspots where large-scale breeding of mosquito are reported, senior officials said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, however, refused to provide a report on the dengue figures in the Capital. The MCD stopped publicly releasing weekly data on vector-borne diseases on August 7 last year in the run-up to the G20 Summit.

The officials told PTI, that several anti-larval measures have been started to prevent transmission of vector-borne diseases like Dengue, Malaria and Chikungunya ahead of the monsoon.

The shower season in Delhi starts around the end of June or the first week of July.

To target the breeding at the source, the corporation has used "larva-eating fishes" called Gambusia affinis extensively at 216 biological control points (fish points) across its 12 zones.

"The advantage of Gambusia fish is that they feed on larvae of mosquitoes. The cost of introducing larvivorous fish is relatively lower than that of chemical control and it is an environment-friendly method. They can be introduced in shallow water where mosquito larvae breed like ponds," a civic body official explained.

The Public Health Department of the corporation plans to open more such fish points in the jurisdiction of the MCD with the onset of the monsoon.

However, when asked about the dengue cases in the city, an official said "The data is not available to us".

As per the data accessed by PTI, the MCD has conducted more than 1.29 crore house inspections to date this year with action taken against 24,480 houses where domestic breeding of mosquitoes in open contaminated water was found. The corporation sprayed insecticides at 1,84,035 houses for the prevention of adult mosquitoes.

Furthermore, MCD claims to conduct special drives to cover vulnerable spots like construction sites, police stations, parks and nurseries, health institutions, schools and other educational institutions, and government offices, among others.

A fine of Rs 5,18,605 has been collected by the MCD from action taken against 1,899 offenders under the Malaria Bye-Laws of the DMC Act. A total of 25,055 legal notices and 5,766 challans have been issued by the corporation to date.

"All known hotspot colonies are being checked and anti-mosquito measures are taken intensively. Public awareness by meeting with RWAs, Nodal Teachers, Market Associations School and Staff Rallies are also being organised from time to time. We also run WhatsApp groups in all wards of MCD to impart awareness and redress the complaints of the public," the official said.