Anti-mosquito drive: DNCC fines another 18 house owners Tk 2.22 lakh

On the third day of Dhaka North City Corporation's (DNCC) anti-mosquito "combing operation", the DNCC team found Aedes mosquito larvae in 85 houses and establishments.

The 10-day drive to protect city dwellers from the mosquito menace was simultaneously launched across all 54 wards under the city corporation on Friday. The drive operates by dividing a ward into ten sectors and a sector into 10 sub-sectors.

During yesterday's drive, the DNCC team visited at least 13,688 houses and establishments, said a DNCC official.

During the operation, DNCC mobile courts fined owners of 18 houses and establishments around Tk 2.22 lakh.

The team found conditions favourable for the breeding of Aedes -- any place where stagnant water can accumulate -- in 7,909 establishments, including houses and under-construction buildings, officials added.

The larvae were found in abandoned tyres, buckets, flower tubs, bottles, water-metres, garages, broken mugs, floors, water-tanks, plastic containers, roof-drains, yogurt pots, abandoned commodes, coconut shells, broken pots, basement and spaces between two houses.

A team comprising four garbage management workers and one spray-man is taking part in the operation in each sub-sector, while 40 garbage management workers and 10 spray-men are taking part in each sector in the drive every day.

The teams are visiting different establishments, houses and under-construction sites to check breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes in the area.

They are also collecting pictures and addresses of houses and other establishments and phone numbers of owners if they find Aedes larvae or mosquito breeding sources there.

All data will be stored to prepare a database in monitoring the breeding sources properly afterwards, said a DNCC press release.

Nine entomologists of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), three entomologists, and officials of health and garbage management of DNCC are present during the drives.