The Hindu 14.12.2009
Corporation steps up drive against mosquitoes
Staff Reporter
| Drains being flushed; fogging operations on |
Photo: H. Vibhu 
Battling a parasite: Mosquito menace has increased in the city and the residents are using all possible measures including lighting anti-mosquito coils to keep them away. —
KOCHI: With the increased mosquito menace presenting sleepless nights to the city residents, the civic authorities have embarked on mosquito control measures.
The flushing of drains using saline water has started in West Kochi areas and it will be extended to the central city area this week, said Dr. C. G. Elizabeth, Health Officer of the Kochi corporation. The blocks in the drains would be removed and mosquito larvae killed when water is forced into the drain. Water that is pooled in the clogged drains is providing breeding grounds for the disease-spreading mosquitoes.
Fogging has also been employed by the health workers as a measure to kill adult mosquitoes. The spray is sufficient to kill mosquitoes on contact.
It is sprayed on bushes and drains where there is the possibility of convergence of mosquitoes. A schedule for fogging has also been drawn up and every division would be covered once in a week. The de-clogging of small drains has also started in different parts of the city, she said.
The period between December and February is considered as the peak breeding season of mosquitoes. The cold nights and warm days provide the parasites ideal climatic conditions to proliferate.
The larvae get time to mature during these months in the absence of rain. The situation may continue up to March.
During the summer months, the mosquito population would be reduced as the drying up of pooled water and marshy lands would deny them breeding grounds.
The tendency to throw plastic bottles and covers into the drains is proving costly to the public health in the city. The small drains are often clogged by the bottles and covers and the drains are converted into breeding grounds of mosquitoes.
A shift in the culture of throwing plastic and other materials into the drains itself would help in reducing the mosquito menace, she said. All the mosquito control measures would take at least one month to yield results. The Kochi corporation will soon write to the Railway authorities to carryout cleaning and anti-mosquito drive in its holdings as the marshy tracts in possession of the Railways was allowing mosquitoes to breed there, she said.
The civic authority had earlier given a call for observing all Sundays as dry days for emptying containers and bins in open places so as to control the mosquito population. However, the drive has lost its steam and this has also affected the mosquito control measures.
