Rodent rage: Mayor warns against plague outbreak in city

Kolkata: With the rodent population underneath the city streets growing exponentially and causing infrastructural damage to bridges, Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Firhad Hakim on Friday warned against a breakout of plague in Kolkata in the near future and warned citizens and street food vendors against dumping food on streets.

Addressing a press conference, Hakim said that the number of rats living beneath the city streets has increased exponentially. “People may not give much importance to the issue at the moment but let’s not forget the outbreak of plague in Surat. We need to take precautionary measures from now on,” he asserted.

Hakim added the rats are eating into the infrastructure such as pillars of bridges in the city. He said the Dhakuria Bridge is one such example which is being eaten away by rodents. “We had to mix glass with cement to keep away the rats. Further, in places such as near Haldiram at AJC Bose Road, the number of rats has increased heavily. If this is not stopped, there could be a possible outbreak of plague soon,” he said.

Asked how it could be controlled, Hakim said that people need to immediately stop dumping food on the streets of the city. “People eat on the streets and throw away the waste items. This waste is a primary source of food for the rats. The street food vendors need to ensure they do not dump the waste on roadsides but make arrangements for proper disposal of these food items. Either they need to find ways to process that food waste or ensure it is dumped at the Dhapa dumping ground where KMC will process it to make fertilizers. If we find the rules are being violated, we will send notices to the food vendors concerned,” he warned.

Hakim said it is high time that the rat population is checked or else we are headed towards another epidemic. “Citizens need to be more aware in ensuring that they throw away the food waste in the bin and not in the drains or on the road,” he said.