Chennai: When
it comes to mosquitoes, the civic body seems to be waging a losing
battle. However the corporation is not giving up and on Thursday the
civic body intensified fogging and spraying operations aimed at
controlling the breeding of mosquitoes.

“A slight increase in
mosquito menace has been felt in some parts of Chennai in the last one 
week.  I have been spending sleepless nig­hts as mosquitoes have been
troubling us. I am clueless on where they come from,” rued D. Siddharth,
a first year medical student residing at Madipakkam.

One can see
swarms of mosquitoes over garbage mounds and open drains in K K Nagar
area, said S. Sanjith, a resident of K. K. Nagar.

“Buildings with
stagnant water pave way for vector breeding and the incidence of
mosquito breeding has been curtailed through periodical fogging,”  a
corporation official said. The civic body will also carry out
intensified fogging operations in 41 identified places in Chennai, which
earlier had records of malaria and dengue. 

“Velachery, George
Town, Vyasarpadi, Washermanpet and other slum areas vulnerable to
malaria are targeted and intensive fogging is being done there. And all
throughout the city we have been checking out for unused overhead tanks
and issuing notice to owners or breaking the tanks at once,”  the
official added.

The official pointed out that the intermittent
rains would be a challenge to the civic body but the corporation had a
strong contingent of mosquito workers including 1,675 contract workers
and 1,479 permanent workers to battle against the mosquitoes.

Earlier
in the day,  awareness camps on water stagnation were conducted in
corporation schools where students identified water stagnated places in
their locality.