Staff Reporter :
The mosquito menace has worsened in the capital city Dhaka and its adjacent areas in recent days due to absence of any effective steps taken by the concerned authorities to check their breeding.
Several city residents have alleged that no measures had been taken by the bifurcated city corporations to check the mosquito menace through spraying insecticides. As a result, the city dwellers are hardly getting any respite from mosquito menace in the current summer season.
Mosquito biting is rampant at home, offices, bus stands, rail-stations and launch terminals and where not!
Especially, the residents of Khilgaon, Malibagh, Basaboo, Rampura, Mirpur,
Pallabi, Mohammadpur, Lalmatia, Uttara, Nayabazar, Nawabpur, Jatrabari, Madartek, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Moghbazar, Sutrapur and Gendaria are the worst sufferers of the menace. “The two city corporations – Dhaka North City Corporation [DNCC] and Dhaka South City Corporation [DNCC] — and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority [DWASA] are not taking any initiatives to clean the water bodies and drains. So, these have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” Munirul Islam, a resident of Jatrabari claimed.
He said, “I haven’t seen any city corporation staff spraying insecticide in my area this season. So far I think, the city corporation is very much irregular of anti-mosquito drives.”
Zafar Hossain, a Mohammadpur resident and college student, said mosquitoes have been making his everyday life miserable. “At present, I do my study inside mosquito net. I didn’t see any mosquito killing programme by the city corporation in the area,” he said.
Another resident of Mirpur Syeda Shahana Morium said: “I didn’t see any recent mosquito killing drives by the city corporation in my area. I have been using mosquito coils and aerosols to get rid of the problem, though it is highly injurious to heath. In bed, I use mosquito net to get protection. What a disturbing situation it is!”
“Just after evening, we keep the windows and other ventilators shut to resist the mosquitoes. But it can help a little as the mosquitoes enter when the open doors are opened,” she said expressing frustration.
Admitting the fact, DSCC Chief Health Officer, Brigadier General M Abdullah-Al-Harun said they have got some complaints about the mosquito menace from city dwellers.
On the other hand, DNCC Chief Health Officer Brigadier General Afjalur Rahman said they have been facing acute shortage of larvicide, an insecticide sprayed for killing mosquitoes. The spraying of insecticide will begin as soon as the pharmaceutical companies will supply the medicine, he added.
Some officials of the DSCC and DNCC said the mosquito-breeding season begins in November and continues till January every year. But this year, the problem has been intensified as the larvicide did not work properly due to various reasons.
Besides, the shortage of insecticide in the last five months, and lack of field monitoring and drain maintenance were the prime reasons for the failure in mosquito control, they added.
