Navi Mumbai: The number of mosquito-breeding spots in Navi Mumbai households has gone up as compared to last year, the health department of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has found.
The department has been carrying out its annual pre-monsoon drive to detect indoor mosquito breeding. NMMC officials said the increase in breeding sites indicates a failure on part of residents to adhere to basic guidelines set by the health department.
Health workers have visited 3,37,008 houses since April and inspected overhead tanks, drums, lofts, flower pots and other places prone to act as breeding sites for mosquitoes. Of the 6,24,152 spots checked at these houses, officials found larvae of aedes, anopheles and culux mosquitoes in 1,711 spots. Last year, the NMMC had identified 1,514 breeding spots. Larvae of the aedes mosquito were found in 1,520 spots, anopheles in 176 spots and culux at 15 spots.
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“It’s the health department’s annual activity prior to the onset of monsoon to curb the menace of mosquitoes, which could cause diseases like malaria and dengue. Once the sites are identified, we treat the area. The residents are once again briefed about the measures to be taken to prevent mosquitoes from breeding there again,”said Dr. Ujjwala Oturkar, in charge of the malaria department.
In houses where breeding sites were detected, the residents were issued notices to ensure that the mistakes were not repeated. Those who resisted the inspection were warned of legal action if they didn’t cooperate.
Last year, the NMMC had filed FIRs against 19 residents for failing to prevent mosquito breeding at their residences despite repeated warnings from the civic body, and will take similar action this year too.
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NMMC health officers have asked the residents to replace stored water in drums, vessels and pots once every week.
Pre-monsoon works
Municipal Commissioner Dr. N. Ramaswami has instructed Additional Muncipal Commissioners Ankush Chavan and Ramesh Chavan to get updates from heads of all departments twice a day about pre-monsoon works being carried out in the city. He has instructed them to finish all pre-monsoon preparations by May 30.
“The drainage channel desilting and cleaning of natural drains is in the last phase. We have instructed the respective departments to clear the waste collected outside gutters and nullahs once it dries to avoid it from clogging the same nullahs during monsoon,” Mr. Ankush Chavan said.
The civic administration carries out desilting work every year to ensure there is no waterlogging during the monsoon. Approximately 1,230 km of drains are desilted and 1,11,208 km natural nullahs are cleaned. The contractors failing to clear the waste removed from the drains will be fined between ₹1,000 and ₹5,000 for every spot identified by the sanitary officer concerned.
Mr. Chavan added that work to dig up roads to lay pipelines will be stopped, and the roads will be repaired before the rains start. Old tree branches are being pruned, and the holding ponds will also be cleaned.