KMC introduces drone to aid anti-dengue drive
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started using an advanced drone technology for capturing footage, collecting water samples for test and spraying larvicide to destroy the breeding grounds of mosquitoes.
The drone, fitted with a robot, will be used in places which cannot be accessed by officials of the Health department of the civic body.
"There are vacant lands, abandoned factories and locked houses that cannot be accessed by our teams involved in vector control. We will use this modern drone technology for drives in these areas," said Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh, who is in charge of the Health department.
The drone will be able to capture footage of the place, pick accumulated water samples so that it can be examined and accordingly larvicide will be spread for destroying mosquito larvae.
The drone has been named Vinash and it will be capable of flying at a height of 200 feet above the ground. The demonstration was carried out at the roof of the KMC building in S N Banerjee Road and larvicide was spread on the roof of the Futnani Chamber building just opposite KMC.
A private company in the city working in the healthcare sector has developed the technology and has been selected through tender process of KMC. The civic body will select the wards or places for the operation of the drone and it will work accordingly.
Vinash is fitted with four nozzles and will be used to destroy larvae in canals, ponds and other waterbodies. It can fly for 10 minutes, during which it can empty 16 litres of larvicide. "We are introducing a slightly smaller version of the drone soon, which we have named Unmanned Terrain Vehicle. This drone will capture footages of mosquito breeding grounds. It will be capable of flying for 20 minutes and will be effective in precision spraying, particularly inside water tanks with open lids on building roofs," said Somnath Dasgupta, director of the private company.
KMC has received information that there are some water tanks on roofs of abandoned buildings that have emerged as mosquito breeding grounds.
