Navi Mumbai civic body plans to map mosquito breeding spots to prevent dengue from spreading

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation is planning to map the mosquito breeding spots on Google Maps in order to let people know which area has more breeding of mosquitoes; this is to prevent dengue from spreading

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is planning to map the mosquito breeding spots on Google Maps in order to let people know which area has more breeding of mosquitoes.

A civic worker carries out fogging in Navi Mumbai. The NMMC is planning to map the mosquito breeding spots on Google Maps in order to let people know which area has more breeding of mosquitoes and to prevent dengue and malaria from spreading. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

Also, NMMC is planning to develop an application that will have all the information on the activities done by the corporation for the prevention of dengue and elimination of breeding spots.

“Our health workers, while visiting the spots to check breeding, have started mapping the longitudes and latitudes of the location. The app, too, is in the process of being developed,” assistant municipal commissioner, Sanjay Kakade, said.

The corporation has also planned to fine housing societies of ₹50,000 if they denied entry to the hotspot areas for dengue and malaria for investigation and preventive action.

“The cooperation of housing societies and people is very important in the prevention of dengue and malaria and if any housing society denies us entry, it will be fined ₹50,000 and in repeated offence, an FIR too would be registered,” NMMC medical health officer, Dr Pramod Patil, said.

Recently, the corporation had found breeding spots in the vicinity of a mall in Turbhe and at a car shed area in Sanpada. In both the places, there were suspected cases in its vicinity. “Every time a breeding spot is identified, it is eliminated and the people around are made aware of the consequences of such breeding spots and the measures to be taken to make sure that such breeding spots are not formed again,” Dr Patil said.

Currently, Navi Mumbai has nine positive dengue cases. “In addition to the patients coming to the municipal health centre, the corporation also needs to know the total number of patients going to the private medical professionals. Hence, the health officials have been asked to keep a tab of all suspicious cases going to the private hospitals as well. The officials have also been asked to visit the hotspots for dengue and malaria,” NMMC commissioner, Abhijit Bangar, said.

The commissioner also directed the medical officers of the civic health centre to pay close attention to the preventive work being done by the contractor’s staff and to submit a daily report regarding the same. The commissioner also said that if the contractor or his workers are found to have committed negligence, punitive action will be taken against them and if no improvement is seen, strict action will be taken to cancel his contract and blacklist them.