The Times of India 13.03.2013
Coimbatore corporation stung by mosquito menace
COIMBATORE: Coimbatore
corporation seems to be losing its battle with the mosquito as it
continues to survive the control measures implemented by the civic body.
The menace in the city and outskirts has increased multi-fold over the
past few days inviting sharp criticism from the public.
"Everyone is talking about the growing mosquito menace. It really exposes the corporation's inefficiency," said M Parasuram, a resident of Peelamedu.
Alleging that they have not seen a corporation worker for weeks together in their area, he called for a closer scrutiny of the civic body's mosquito control measures.
The corporation presently has 100 handheld or portable fogging machines for its 100 wards and 5 vehicle-mounted fogging machines for the 5 zones. "Each ward has only one worker to handle the portable fogging machine. This is far from adequate, to handle fogging activities throughout the ward," said a sanitary inspector on conditions of anonymity. The worker is responsible for wiping out mosquito breeding places by
spraying chemicals in tanks and larvicide in drains. The same worker has to carry out fogging activities by evening, he said.
Field-level workers complained that lack of manpower has hampered the corporation's efforts in curbing the mosquito menace. Besides, each zone has only one vehicle-mounted fogging machine. "Each zone has 20 wards and it is hard to implement control measures on a regular basis with just one machine," said another sanitary inspector. This is why the machine is seen only once every fortnight in a ward as it takes 20 days to cover the entire zone.
A conservancy worker who was with the corporation for more than 10 years said that earlier there were field assistants to monitor the mosquito control activities which were effective. Today, there are no assistants to oversee procedures, he added.
"Apart from inadequate manpower, widespread irregularities in carrying out fogging activities across corporation wards go unchecked," said V Ramamoorthy, ward 42 councillor.
R Raveendran, secretary of Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) demanded public scrutiny of mosquito control activities. "Tracking devices should be attached to the vehicle-mounted fogging machines to monitor their movement. A schedule of fogging activities to be followed scrupulously must be established," he suggested. Adjudged the best corporation in 2012 by the state government, the city corporation is struggling to maintain its top position because of its inability to control mosquitoes.
However, the corporation's deputy commissioner S Sivarasu claimed that there is absolutely no question of inadequate manpower and that mosquito control measures are being carried out regularly.
"Everyone is talking about the growing mosquito menace. It really exposes the corporation's inefficiency," said M Parasuram, a resident of Peelamedu.
Alleging that they have not seen a corporation worker for weeks together in their area, he called for a closer scrutiny of the civic body's mosquito control measures.
The corporation presently has 100 handheld or portable fogging machines for its 100 wards and 5 vehicle-mounted fogging machines for the 5 zones. "Each ward has only one worker to handle the portable fogging machine. This is far from adequate, to handle fogging activities throughout the ward," said a sanitary inspector on conditions of anonymity. The worker is responsible for wiping out mosquito breeding places by
spraying chemicals in tanks and larvicide in drains. The same worker has to carry out fogging activities by evening, he said.
Field-level workers complained that lack of manpower has hampered the corporation's efforts in curbing the mosquito menace. Besides, each zone has only one vehicle-mounted fogging machine. "Each zone has 20 wards and it is hard to implement control measures on a regular basis with just one machine," said another sanitary inspector. This is why the machine is seen only once every fortnight in a ward as it takes 20 days to cover the entire zone.
A conservancy worker who was with the corporation for more than 10 years said that earlier there were field assistants to monitor the mosquito control activities which were effective. Today, there are no assistants to oversee procedures, he added.
"Apart from inadequate manpower, widespread irregularities in carrying out fogging activities across corporation wards go unchecked," said V Ramamoorthy, ward 42 councillor.
R Raveendran, secretary of Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) demanded public scrutiny of mosquito control activities. "Tracking devices should be attached to the vehicle-mounted fogging machines to monitor their movement. A schedule of fogging activities to be followed scrupulously must be established," he suggested. Adjudged the best corporation in 2012 by the state government, the city corporation is struggling to maintain its top position because of its inability to control mosquitoes.
However, the corporation's deputy commissioner S Sivarasu claimed that there is absolutely no question of inadequate manpower and that mosquito control measures are being carried out regularly.
