A battle against mosquito bite in Pudupet

Residents rent out rooftops to traders to store automobile parts and this is causing rainwater to stagnate in these spaces turning them into a breeding ground for mosquitoes

November 30, 2019 05:39 pm | Updated 05:39 pm IST

Auto spare sparts stored on the rooftops of houses in Pudupet.

Auto spare sparts stored on the rooftops of houses in Pudupet.

Monsoon is when the mosquito menace seems to be on the rise in the city. But for a few neighbourhoods in Pudupet, fighting the bloodsucking bugs is a year-long battle. And the residents have no one but themselves to blame, for most of the rooftop spaces are being used as an open warehouse to store auto spare parts, tyres and tubes of vehicles. Stagnant rainwater in these spaces have become perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Residences in the packed neighbourhoods of SBI Colony, Syful Mulk Nawab Street, Velayutha Chetty Street, Sami Street, Chandrabanu Street and Adithanar Salai in Pudupet, belonging to Zone 5 (Royapuram) of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been unsuccessfully fighting the menace for many years. “Children in our locality are often falling sick. Health workers from the Corporation too don’t visit our neighbourhoods,” says K. Anand, a resident.

Residents say that the increase in mosquito population is due to the rise in the number of spare parts outlets in the locality with more rooftops bein rented to store used spare parts and other materials by traders. “Used tyres forms more than 60% of materials stored on rooftops of houses. Rainwater gets stagnated in these tyres during monsoon,” he adds.

Corporation officials say that accessing the closely-built structures in the neighbourhood ago remains a challenge. “Many houses are in a dilapidated condition with no easy access to its rooftops. Corporation staff are conducting awareness drives among residents in Pudupet to discourage storage of such materials on the rooftops. Special drives will be cunducted soon,” says a Corporation official.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.