Lone machine to fight mosquitoes

Darbhanga: Limited fogging by Darbhanga Municipal Corporation (DMC) has compounded the woes of the residents, who are suffering from the increasing mosquito menace with the approach of warm days and humid evenings.

Panicky residents can barely move around freely without applying mosquito repellent cream on their skin. Mosquito-bitten faces are common in every locality of the city. The unorganised drainage system and stagnant water in ponds only add to the misery.

Girish Kumar, a resident of Shahganj, said mosquitoes had created a big problem. “Darbhanga has an unorganised drainage system, where most of the drain water channels are open, attracting mosquitoes to breed. Fogging and spraying machines are a missing component in our lives. I don’t even remember when I last saw fogging being done,” added Girish.

Ranjit Jha of Bengali Tola said the DMC is least concerned about the plight of the residents. He added: “When the roster is prepared, the fogging machine only covers the main road areas, while the interior areas are left to feel the sting.”

He added that the DMC does not identify the mosquito dens neither does it locate the breeding zones. The DMC only believes in completing an arbitrary quorum.

The open drains in the town have not been treated. “No sprinkling of larvaecide has been done so far,” said Ranjit.

A DMC official in the health wing was completely blank when The Telegraph asked about the mosquito density index.

However, the mechanical engineer of DMC, Prabhat Kumar, said the DMC had prepared a roster for fogging and spraying larvaecide in the town. He said in all the 48 wards, spraying and fogging work had been started. “Two teams, equipped with four small and a big fogging machine, are doing the work. The small machine covers one ward a day while the big machine covers two wards,” added Prabhat.

Courtesy: The Telegraph