Those flouting anti-larvae guidelines may get fined upto Rs 1 lakh

Kolkata: The Municipal Court will slap fines varying anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 lakh, if owners of buildings are found flouting the anti-larvae guideline of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The gazette notification regarding the matter was published on April 17, 2018.

The Health department of KMC has asked all the senior officials working in the boroughs to visit institutional buildings like schools, hospitals, nursing homes and offices, to ensure that garbage gets removed regularly from their premises.

KMC removes garbage from the streets and it is the responsibility of the owners to remove garbage from the premises.

The civic authorities held a video conference with the senior officials in the borough on Thursday. The director general of building, water supply and social sector, in addition to the senior Health department officials, were present in the video conference.

Monsoon alert has been given to all the boroughs. The video conference is held on the third Thursday of every month.

Special drives will be taken to ensure that no rain water gets accumulated on the roof of the office buildings, hospitals, nursing homes and schools. Senior civic officials said the accumulated water on the roofs serves as an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Water gets accumulated in used plastic cups, bottles and used tyres, that is often not cleared from the roofs of institutional buildings. They also serve as the potential breeding ground for mosquitoes.

KMC will serve notices to owners or authorities responsible for looking after the buildings, asking them to clear garbage immediately, failing which cases will be filed against them in the Municipal Court.

KMC teams will also examine whether the underground reservoirs and overhead tanks are properly covered.

It may be mentioned that because of global warming, the mosquitoes have changed their breeding season and so, the civic authorities had launched the anti-larvae drive in January.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed all civic bodies to take up the anti-larvae drive seriously. The state Urban Development department has given Rs 4 crore to KMC, to launch anti-larvae campaign and procure some instruments for the laboratories where blood samples are checked for malaria and dengue.

Senior civic officials said as mosquito larvae take seven days to become adults, by launching proper cleaning operation, the number of dengue cases can be reduced.