South Delhi Municipal Body Reveals Schools, Govt Offices Lag in Anti-mosquito Drive

The mosquito-borne diseases, especially dengue, malaria, chikungunya and Zika, have had an adverse effect on the health of all the people, globally. Caused by pathogens, generally mosquitoes, these monsoon diseases are on a rise during monsoons, given the collection of stagnant water at various places. This stagnant water makes it easy for mosquitoes to breed, causing an increase in their number growth.

The National capital is also taking steps to curb mosquito-borne diseases. While the NCR is already taking an intensive campaign against vector-borne diseases, many government establishments are yet to take a step ahead in this direction. In these are several schools and government offices, which have not yet made necessary arrangements to curb the mosquito menace. This has been revealed in a drive conducted by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) recently.

The civic agency SDMC had visited over 500 government institutions and offices to check the preparations. After the drive, an SDMC official told to The Times of India, “At many places, we found breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Notices and challans were issued to 130 government schools, police station, DTC depots, MTNL, BSES offices, DDA offices and dispensaries.”

In its inspection drive, the SDMC visited 191 senior secondary schools. Out of these, 48 places served as the breeding ground for mosquitoes. In an order to take an action, SDMC has issued notices to 16 schools, whereas 34 schools issued court challans.

The SDMC inspected 288 buildings and out of these, 72 government offices served as mosquito breeding ground. The SDMC official added in his ToI statement, “We have found breeding grounds for mosquitoes at DTC depot, as well. Storage tanks at Jal board offices were too found prone to breeding.”

He said that minimal arrangements were being made at these places to control mosquito breeding. In his ToI statement, the official said, “The breeding percentage at government establishments was higher than in residential areas. Despite disseminating information several times, we found mosquitogenic condition at several government officers.”

He added, “School managements also need to be more aware to ensure safety of kids. Most of the teachers see fogging as the solution, which is of barely any help. Mosquito-breeding spots need to be eliminated to tackle the dengue threat.”