Mayor asks KMC to ramp up dengue drives in post-monsoon period

Kolkata: The Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has asked the civic body to add more teeth to its vector control drives post monsoon when chances of mosquito attacks rises.

According to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the cases of dengue and malaria, compared to last year, have reduced by 53 per cent. Mayor Firhad Hakim said: “We need to further strengthen the drive just after monsoon when such cases spike every year. It is post monsoon that we can better identify and make people aware to ensure there is no water accumulation on terraces and elsewhere where mosquito breeding can take place.”

He added: “Presently, due to adequate rainfall the cases are low.”

The Mayor, however, said that the reduction in cases should not lead to any laid back approach but on the contrary the civic body’s vector control officers must remain extra vigilant. He also advised against dumping of plastics in public places such as in parks.

“One should utilise the bins installed rather than littering the place,” he advised. Recently, the Mayor had expressed concerns over several vacant and abandoned lands, especially in South Kolkata, posing a threat of becoming a mosquito breeding ground. Hakim had said: “This is a genuine problem the civic body is facing.

There are many such lands whose owners are not taking initiatives to keep them clean. For now, we are cleaning such plots and then attaching the cost to the assessment record of the owner. We have inadequate manpower to clean every such plot.

We are sending notices to the owners to keep their plots free of garbage.”