KOCHI: Despite tall claims, the Kochi corporation has done precious little to control the mosquito menace in the city which peaks during the December-March period. While the failure to implement mosquito control programmes has invited biting criticism from city residents, the civic body has blamed shortage of manpower and fogging machines for the crisis.

"People have been complaining to councillors about the mosquito menace. But the local body has not released enough funds to buy diesel, kerosene and petrol required for fogging. Though there has to be two machines in one corporation circle, not even a single one is available in some circles," said Thevara councillor P R Ranish. The corporation has 22 circles and 74 divisions.

The mosquito menace reaches its peak during the December-March period, which is considered ideal for breeding. The local body called off large-scale fogging operations, stating that the residents were opposed to it. Though the corporation council had asked officials to reintroduce fogging, it has not materialized so far.

Responding to criticism, health standing committee chairman T K Asharaf said the local body would recruit daily wage workers to carry out fogging and related activities. He calimed the civic body was focusing on controlling mosquito breeding to bring down expenditure.

Meanwhile, the corporation said they would start pre-monsoon cleaning on April 1. The cleaning activities include desilting of drains, spraying and fogging.

Works committee chairperson Soumini Jain said the civic body cannot start the activity before April. "If the local body carries out cleaning earlier, we will be forced to repeat it as waste and debris will get deposited again in areas we clear," she said.

The corporation has stopped pumping saline water into drains following allegations regarding misappropriation of funds. "Following audit objection, we discontinued such activities," she said.

Kochi: Despite making tall claims, the Kochi corporation has done little to control mosquito menace in the city, and the failure to implement mosquito control programmes has invited biting criticism from city residents. Shortage of manpower and insufficient number of fogging machines have adversely hit the civic body's programmes. Even though the civic body has stated that they would provide power sprayers, corporation councillors point out that such new equipment were not available in many of the divisions.

"People have been complaining to councillors on mosquito menace. But, the local body has not released enough funds to procure diesel, kerosene and petrol required for fogging. Though there has to be two machines in one corporation circle, in some of the circles not even a single machine is available," said PR Ranish, councillor, Thevara. Kochi corporation has 22 circles and 74 divisions.

The mosquito menace in the city reaches its peak during the December-March period, which is considered to be the ideal time for its breeding. The local body had called off large-scale fogging operations stating the residents were opposed to it and they left the area when larvicides were used for fogging. Even though the corporation council had earlier asked officials to re-introduce the system to tackle the menace, it did not materialise.

Responding to criticism health standing committee chairman T K Asharaf said the local body would recruit daily wage workers to carry out fogging and related activities. He said that the civic body has been focusing on curbing mosquito breeding grounds on would help to bring down expenditure on mosquito control activities.