Over the past few weeks, have you felt that mosquitoes have been troubling you more than usual? That is probably because fogging operations for mosquito control in many localities of the city have been suspended owing to delay in procurement of insecticides.
According to sources in Chennai Corporation, the shortage of insecticides has affected work in most zones. The civic body has attributed the delay in procurement of insecticides to the changes made as part of the recent administrative revamp at Chennai Corporation.
Under the system, regional deputy commissioners will manage the procurement of insecticide. Under the earlier system, the procurement of insecticide was done by senior public health officials at Ripon Buildings. Last month, the State government cleared the Corporation’s proposal for the new administrative structure.
“Mosquito density has increased in the past few weeks. I have not noticed fogging operations during the past three weeks,” said B. Kannan, a resident of T. Nagar.
Chennai Corporation is currently using bio insecticides such as pyrethrum. However, councillors allege that mosquitoes have developed resistance to the insecticide. The Corporation will study the impact of pyrethrum and opt for another environment-friendly insecticide for a short period of time before using pyrethrum again.
