IT is disheartening to see that the mosquito problem seems to have got worse in Dhaka city this year. The grim fact is, mosquitoes have become a major menace for the residents of the capital city, and in spite of lofty promises, this year it seems we are back to square one again. The infestation of mosquitoes is making, once again, life very irritating.
The main problem is that in Dhaka it is all too easy for mosquitoes to breed. Stagnant pools of dirty water are the ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes and we have not managed to clean them up. According to a news report published in a national daily on Tuesday, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has failed in its efforts to bring mosquitoes under control. It had mixed insecticide with the water of some mosquito breeding grounds four and a half months ago in order to kill the larva and bring the insect under control, but to no avail. The mosquito menace has turned intolerable.
As reported, two teachers of zoology and entomology departments at Jahangirnagar University from the very beginning had questioned the efficacy of this particular insecticide Novaluron. Now it has been proven that the chemical was ineffective. But the supplier has rejected their doubts, saying that it hadn’t been effective because the chemical substance wasn’t applied in the right dose or at the right place. The DNCC has been using the tablet-form Novaluron since October last year in an attempt to bring the Culex mosquitoes under control. A total of 629 mosquito breeding grounds were identified. The insecticide was applied in lakes, canals and other water bodies in Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, Mirpur and some other places. But these places now have that the highest density of mosquitoes.
Criticism has poured in from different quarters as Bangladesh had suffered a massive dengue outbreak in 2019 when 101,354 people were hospitalized. Of them, 179 died. That year hospitals across the country were overload with dengue patients. In 2020 dengue was prevalent even in the winter. So the government and the city corporations must realize the severity of the mosquito menace and tackle it holistically.
We must be strict in respect of the proper disposal of wastes. Furthermore, canals must be reclaimed so that water continues to flow, instead of becoming stagnant and flooding streets with dirty water. If the problem at the source is tackled, the mosquito problem will largely disappear. Until then, we need to focus on mosquito eradication.
