The issue of mosquito menace hogged the attention of the City Council
at the Corporation Council Meeting, which was held on Friday. Answering
questions raised by a councillor on the importance being given to the
free mosquito net scheme over general mitigation measures, Chennai Mayor
Saidai Duraisamy said that the distribution of mosquito nets to the
general public was only an emergency intervention measure and had been
implemented according to the needs. This will act as an ancillary
measure to the already prevalent measures for  mosquito control, he
said.

The Corporation during the council meeting passed a
resolution to provide an additional five lakh mosquito nets in the city.
Questioning the measure, councillors said that many had been denied the
nets since they didn’t have ration cards. The Mayor explained that
through the resolution, apart from the general public, the nets will
also be given to students residing in hostels, patients at government
hospitals and those residing in slums and on river banks.

He
added, “The Corporation has already generated a list of underprivileged 
people, who do not possess a ration card. The nets will be given to
them using this list for verification.”

Over the course of the
year, the Corporation has taken several measures against the mosquito
menace. The Mayor also said that apart from the distribution of mosquito
nets, the Corporation had actively implemented several other measures
such as planting of five lakh nochi saplings on Open Space Reservation
(OSR) lands and parks and taken stern action against illegal sewer lines
connected to the storm water drain lines by several commercial
establishments. But the stumbling block is the fact that the sewage
lines and underground drainage come under the ambit of the CMWSSB, while
the storm water drains are maintained by the Corporation.

The nochi plant scheme was announced in June this year, but is yet to gain impetus when it came to implementation.

However,
the Mayor asserted that in the course of next year, the measures for
mitigation of the mosquito menace will be heavily stepped up and the
problems will be resolved at the earliest.