"It is becoming hard to sleep at night due to mosquito bites. Even the mosquito nets or coils can stop them. The inactive role of the DCC makes it look like they are actually safeguarding the mosquito population," said Salim Ahmed, an angry resident of Dhanmondi.

Ahmed has taken a number of measures to fight the daily menace. "We shut off all the windows and doors by the evening. Previously this used to work but nowadays, the mosquitoes still infiltrate our defensive measures," he said.

Shawly Rizia, a resident of Uttara, thinks that the mosquitoes seem to be immune to all coils, sprays, tablets and other chemical and physical measures.

"We rely on the larvaecide that the DCC is supposed to spray on daily basis," she said.

Rizia, however, thinks that except for the prominent areas like Gulshan, cantonment and Baridhara, areas like Uttara, Nikunja and Badda do not get their daily dosage of larvaecide.

Residents of other highly affected areas like Kalabagan, Panthapath, Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Nilkhet, Shahbagh, Hatirpul, Azimpur, Rampura, Gulistan and Sayedabad also complained that these areas are not being sprayed regularly.

"Every year, a number of people are afflicted with dengue and malaria in this area. We fear there may be a repetition of it this year too," said Prantik Dey, a resident of Sayedabad.

However, the Mosquito Control Department of DCC claimed that no particular area in the city is being given special preference over others as far as the work of spraying is concerned.

"DCC authorities have divided the city into 10 zonal areas. Four staff have been appointed for the 90 wards of the city, who spray larvaecide once at daytime and once again in the evening," said Anwar, an official of the Mosquito Control Department.

Many city dwellers, however, disagreed, saying the DCC staff are very irregular. "I see the person responsible for this area on an interval of two to three days," said Tofazzel Haque, a resident of Kalabagan.

Haque said when larvaecide-man comes to spray the area, he moves through the roads avoiding the narrow alleys with most drains and puddles, the breeding places of mosquitoes.

Residents of areas like Azimpur, Dhaka College area and Elephant Road claimed that they often have to pay some extra money to most of these staff so that they spray their areas properly.

There are also allegations that the larvaecide sprayed by the DCC is either out-of-date or adulterated. "The sprays do not seem to work any longer," said Saad Hammadi, a resident of Hatirpul.

Dr Nasimus Seraj of the Department of Entomology, DCC, however, denied the allegations, saying, "We are doing our best to fight this crisis. The DCC has an ongoing work plan of Tk 12 crore for the year of 2005-2006 to solve the mosquito problem."

He assured that necessary steps would be taken soon to solve the current crisis.