Deccan Chronicle 30.12.2009

Fight mosquitoes with ‘frog warriors’

Dec. 29: Students of two top city schools, Rani Meyyamai and Sharadha Vidyalaya, have come up with an ingenious solution to tackle the perennial mosquito menace in the city—breeding frogs.

They are planning to request the Mayor, Mr M. Subramanian, not to waste corporation money on chemicals, sprayers and fogging machines, but to get his health inspectors “to protect and breed frogs, because the amphibians are natural urban scavengers with mosquito as their prey base.”

The students have now formed an ‘Eco Task Force’ and are collecting signatures from their friends and environmentalists to submit a petition to the mayor raising this demand.

“Frogs consume all the insects and keep the water bodies clean,” said S. R. Ishwariyapriya, a class seven student. “They play a vital role in the food chain and can be cost effective warriors to tackle the mosquitoes.”

“It’s not only the frogs that have disappeared from the city canals but even several species of fishes have become extinct from Cooum and Buckhingham canal,” said a senior biologist of the forest department.

“While several municipalities and Exnora international introduced Gamboosia fish, a fish that has a special appetite for mosquito larvae to control the vector breeding, the project failed in Chennai.”

Mosquitoes remain the city’s perennial problem and residents are wondering whether there will ever be any relief from this menace.

Mosquitoes are happily breeding in the highly polluted drains and canals of Chennai and relentlessly raid the residential areas of Chennai giving sleepless nights to the public.

For the past two decades, larvae control has been taken up in the city but it has not had much of an effect.

The National Institute of Malaria Research a decade back identified that Chennai has become an endemic area for the disease.

Nearly 70 per cent of the malaria cases of the state are from coastal areas of the city including Tondiarpet, Washermenpet, Royapuram, Harbour, Elephant Gate, Mannady and Pulianthope.

The Tamil Nadu Public Health Act of 1939 states no person or local authority shall have, keep or maintain within such area any collection of standing or flowing water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed.

But many corporation drains are not covered and left open in many areas even now. Several government departments including Chennai Metro water, Southern Railway, PWD, and State Highways also ignore the rules.

The corporation commissioner, Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, said the health department was periodically spraying larvicide and pesticides to keep the vector breeding under control.

At present, the civic body has pressed around 1,200 civic staff to remove stagnant water, which is home to mosquitoes.

“We are doing our best to eradicate mosquitoes, but there is no public coordination,” said the corporation health officer, Dr P. Kuganantham.

Deccan Chronicle 30.12.2009

Complaints over garbage growing

Dec. 29: Garbage is piling up in parts of Chennai, which has been outsourced to Delhi-based Neel Metal Fanalca for clearing garbage. The residents feel that the NMF has to improve a lot while handling the solid waste.

“Several streets in and around Choolai and Vepery are not swept on a daily basis and the situation is really bad, the residents here feel that the situation was comparatively better when the corporation staff were clearing the garbage earlier,” alleged Mr K. Dharmendar a resident of Madox street. “All our complaints to the local staff had fallen on deaf ears and there is no proper response so far,” he said.

According to corporation sources, the NMF was facing a shortage of staff due to the Sabarimala and festival season. NMF had improved a lot but needs more expertise in handling the situation during festival times, sources added.

When contacted, Mr G. Thirugnansambandham, vice president, NMF admitted that there might be a few stray incidents of garbage stagnation. In fact the number of such complaints in this regard has reduced in the past few months. However, NMF would take all efforts to ensure that the public grievances are addressed at the earliest. Our field supervisors have been instructed to ensure quality work during festival times, he added.

It may be recalled that the city corporation in association with Neel Metal Fanalca removes garbage in Triplicane, Kodambakkam, Adyar and Pulianthope.