‘Terminator’ to train guns on dengue, chikungunya

Amid criticisms for not taking adequate measures to prevent diseases like malaria, filaria, dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis spread by mosquitoes, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and Northern Railways have decided to launch the Mosquito Terminator train from New Delhi Railway Station on Friday.

The Corporation said that there will be four rounds of spraying at a two-weeks interval between each round and the mosquito terminator train will cover 150 km in two days in the peak mosquito season.

According to officials, the civic body has provided a truck mounted power sprayer to Railways which sprays insecticide in water bodies around Railway tracks to prevent mosquito breeding. 

The train carrying the mosquito terminator will pass through Serai Rohilla, Patel Nagar, Delhi Cantt, Palam, Safdarjung, Kishanganj, Lajpat Nagar, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Adarsh Nagar, Rathdhana, Shahdara, Palam and Gurgaon. 

“There will be four rounds of spraying at a two-weeks interval between each round to cover the peak mosquito season. Large population living around Railway tracks are exposed to Aedes and other types of mosquitoes leading to comparatively higher incidences of dengue and malaria. 

The water bodies formed on the land adjacent to the tracks, which is otherwise inaccessible, act as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The insecticide sprayed over the waterbodies would check the threat in the most effective manner,” said a senior official.  

So far, it was not possible to cover large areas in a short span of time. The sprayers have a potency to sanitise a distance of 50-60 meters from the tracks. 

This train will cover a distance of 150 kms approximately in each cycle over a period of two days. The mosquito terminator train shall take this truck on tracks in Delhi area at a slow speed of 20km/hr on a DBKM. 

The DBKM is a special kind of wagon with a low flat surface so that the truck can be mounted on it. This will spray insecticides to kill larvae in waterbodies near the tracks to prevent breeding, he added.