The Hindu         03.03.2011

Purchase of anti-mosquito breeding provisions stalled

The plan to start taking measures against spread of vector-borne diseases early in the city this year seems to have hit a roadblock with questions being raised over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's procurement procedure for anti-mosquito breeding provisions at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Tuesday.

In view of this, the civic body has decided to postpone the proposals relating to purchase of granules, chemicals and bio-larvicides that are sprayed to kill and prevent breeding of dengue and malaria-causing mosquitoes.

Normally, the civic body starts spraying chemicals around the end of May to control mosquito spread but the MCD's health department had decided as a precautionary measure to start the procedure by April this year. However, a number of councillors, mostly from the ruling BJP, objected to the proposal placed by the health department before the Standing Committee on Tuesday over allegations of “trying to favour certain vested interests through the procurement procedure”.

The civic agency's plan to use the government undertaking of Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL) as a consultant for procurement of material at 2 per cent consultancy charge was unacceptable to them as they argued that the civic agency should buy the material directly to avoid paying the high consultancy fees.

The proposals related to purchase of 1,40,000 kg of Temephos Granules worth Rs.50.08 lakh to prevent breeding in clean stagnant water in coolers and uncovered overhead tanks, 40 tonnes of Malathion Technical worth Rs.57.64 lakh used for fogging operation to kill adult mosquitoes, 5,400 litres of Pyrethrum Extract worth Rs.76.43 lakh for spraying to kill adult mosquitoes by mixing it with kerosene oil and 2,75,000 litres of bio-larvicides worth Rs.27.22 lakh. As per the proposal, HLL was to fix the rate of procurement and the supplier agency for one year and get 2 per cent as consultancy charge.

However, the civic agency denied any foul play in the matter and claimed the consultancy was needed as the purchases required various technical specifications and being a reliable government undertaking, HLL had been shortlisted. Municipal Health Officer Dr N. K. Yadav said: “It's all transparent…the company is a reputed government undertaking and provides us the necessary technical support to help make right purchases. We have brought down the consultancy charges from 3.5 per cent to 2 per cent.”

The health department is hopeful that the proposal will be passed in next meeting of the panel.

Outbreak of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria is huge problem in the city especially during monsoons.