Mosquito terminator train to cover Delhi in eight days
The train will cover areas in Sadar Bazar, Sarai Rohilla, Patel Nagar, Delhi Cantonment, Palam and Gurgaon on August 19.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), in a joint initiative with the Northern Railway, launched the ‘mosquito terminator train’ at the New Delhi Railway station on Friday.
The train will spray insecticide or bactericide on water bodies along the tracks across the city. It is expected to cover a distance of 70 kilometres a day. A senior civic body official said this is an annual exercise carried out to curb mosquito breeding in localities near railway tracks, which are inaccessible by road.
This year, the authorities have planned eight trips of terminator trains between August 18 and September 16. In the first trip on August 18, the special train covered south Delhi areas such as Hazrat Nizamuddin, Lajpat Nagar, Patel Nagar, Delhi Kishanganj and Sadar Bazar. All trips will start and culminate at New Delhi station.
The train will cover areas in Sadar Bazar, Sarai Rohilla, Patel Nagar, Delhi Cantonment, Palam and Gurgaon on August 19. In the subsequent days, the terminator train will pass through localities of north and east Delhi municipal corporations.
“A truck-mounted power sprayer is being provided by the municipal corporation for sanitising water bodies located within 50-60 metres of the track. The truck contains a mixture of 8,000 litres of water and 200kg larvicide,” said SV Meena, chief health inspector, Northern Railway.
The train runs at a speed of 20 km/hour to ensure that water bodies are sanitised effectively, a senior Northern Railway official said.
“The areas along railway tracks, especially drains and water bodies, are rarely sprayed and fogged. So, as a precautionary measure, we carry out this drive every year at the end of the monsoon when chances of mosquito breeding are higher,” the official said.
SDMC mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat said, “The truck with the power sprayer is loaded on a special wagon which has a low flat surface. This preventive measure will go a long way in protecting a large number of residents in slum clusters along railway tracks. The insecticide is sprayed during early hours to avoid inconvenience to public.”
The railways also help the corporations by arranging for spraying of insecticides in railway colonies that fall in the jurisdiction of civic agencies. The work is done under the supervision of malaria inspectors and other staff members.