Mosquito may be breeding in areas hard to reach

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Haque yesterday said mosquitoes might be breeding in areas difficult to reach by his corporation.

The mayor apologised for failing to control the mosquito menace.

The city corporation is increasing its capacity every year to give city dwellers relief from the mosquito problem, Annisul claimed while addressing a press briefing on the 2017-18 proposed budget for the corporation.

In the proposed budget, the corporation allocated Tk 20 crore to fight mosquitoes.

Last year, the DNCC's proposed budget was Tk 23.25 crore for mosquito control but it failed to spend the allocation. It spent Tk 16.85 crore on pesticide, larvicide and fogging machines.

According to the control room of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 378 dengue cases have been reported between January 1 and June 15.

During the period, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research has found about 400 cases of chikungunya, a viral disease which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.

The DGHS, which began recording chikungunya cases from June 1, received reports of 228 cases until June 15.

Uttara-9, Moddho Badda, Gulshan-1, Lalmatia, Pallabi, Moghbazar Chowdhurypara, Rampura, Tejgaon and Banani have higher presence of the Aedes mosquitoes that carry chikungunya and dengue diseases.

Replying to a query, Brig Gen SMM Saleh Bhuiyan, DNCC chief health officer, said they bought sufficient pesticide, larvicide and machines to fight mosquitoes.

Annisul said there were some areas, including Bashundhara Residential Area, where the city corporation could not spray pesticide and larvicide. For this reason, their initiatives could not be effective, he added.

Asked about the solution, the mayor said they would buy more machines but did not mention any concrete plan.

Like previous year, the DNCC gave the highest allocation of Tk 278 crore for maintenance of roads and traffic infrastructure.

It would spend Tk 60 crore on waste management and Tk 20 crore on land development.

DNCC's Chief Executive Officer Mesbahul Islam and councillors, among others, were present at the programme.