The Greater Chennai Corporation is employing drones to destroy Culex mosquitoes, also known as menace mosquitoes, that breed in the sewage-mixed waterways.
The civic body launched the spraying of anti-larval chemicals in the waterways using drones from Thursday. A trial run on the modalities of employing the drones was held on June 26. Three drones, hired from Anna University, were deployed for spraying on Cooum River, Otteri Nullah and Buckingham Canal.
A senior civic official said the drones had been deployed at a cost of over ₹10 lakh. Based on the findings by the civic officials about the density before and after the spraying of the chemicals, a decision would be taken on the regular use of these machines in other places.
Inaccessible to workers
The waterways remained inaccessible for vector control workers as they sprayed mainly on the beds of the canals. The Corporation planned to find an effective solution to kill mosquitoes, and this resulted in a tie-up with Anna University. Anti-larval chemicals would be sprayed in 30 minor and four major canals.
The official further said that during the 15-day campaign, these three drones would be covering 60 km daily to complete the spraying of chemicals.
