Delhi: Underground drain fogging begins to tackle mosquitoes

“Culex mosquitoes tend to breed a lot in dirty water, especially in storm water and other drains, during March-April each year. To combat this, this year, we came up with a new method — we put barrels containing anti-larval medicines inside the drains and did underground fogging. This does not affect people. Sprays and medicines are also being put inside the drains for the last three days as a preventive measure,” said Dr R N Singh, senior chief medical officer of NDMC, who is heading the drive.

“In UP’s Gorakhpur, the mosquitoes have been known to cause Japanese encephalitis. This hasn’t been seen in Delhi; they only cause nuisance and their bite is painful,” added Singh.

In the NDMC area, the main hotspots for breeding of such mosquitoes are at the Kushak drain and at its border areas at Bapa Nagar and Bharti Nagar. “These mosquitoes can fly up to a distance of 1-1.5 km. They also breed a lot in the Yamuna river,” said Singh.

Similar drives are being carried by the three MCDs. A senior official from the public health department of the EDMC said, “We have been putting mosquito larvicidal oil-coated blocks in major drains, which create a layer on the surface. Long-acting insecticides are also being put, which paralyses mosquitoes. This has been done at all border-Yamuna belt areas as well as resettlement colonies over the past week. ”

In South MCD, medical health officer Dr B K Hazarika said: “We are spraying anti-larval medicines inside drains at Andrews Ganj, Green Park Extension, Chirag Delhi and other areas since February to contain the spread of these mosquitoes.”