Panic rises, civic agencies get more fogging requests

NEW DELHI: Municipal corporations are witnessing a spurt in the requests to fog houses, indicating rising panic among residents over deaths related to dengue and

NEW DELHI: Municipal corporations are witnessing a spurt in the requests to fog houses, indicating rising panic among residents over deaths related to dengue and chikungunya.

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The malaria control department got at least a dozen requests every day over the past week to fumigate and spray chemicals to control mosquito breeding, civic agencies said.

“Apart from the calls, whenever our domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) go for checking, residents stop them and ask them to fog their houses,” said a health inspector from South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The south corporation, also the nodal agency for the control and awareness of vector borne diseases, got 46 calls on Saturday alone from residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) and residents.

The agency got 31 requests on Friday and 10 on Thursday.

South Delhi is the worst hit by chikungunya with 304 out of 2,625 cases reported from there, according to official figures as of September 17.

South Delhi also has two premier Centre-run hospitals -- All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Safdarjung Hospital.

“We do not have enough staff to fog every house every day and this is not needed either. But people get so worked up that they often start fighting with our teams and complaining,” said the health inspector.

Every ward has 10 DBC workers in-charge of around 50,000 houses. There are 3,500 DBC workers employed with the three civic agencies.

“Almost every house here has at least one member down with fever. I had requested for fogging last week. But till now no one has turned up. Even if they come to spray the drains they add water to the mixture,” alleged Rakesh Kumar Meena of Palam Colony.

Fogging only kills adult mosquitoes that come in contact with the fog. It is not the most reliable solution to control the disease, health officials said. “Since it is a more visible measure, people rely on it. When we ask them to take precautions such as cleaning their coolers and changing water from their money plants and flower pots, they ignore it,” the official said.

Central and New Delhi area also witnessed a similar trend. In the past week, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) helpline ‘1533’ received 58 calls for fogging.