Anti-mosquito train flagged off in Delhi

Delhi has reported 35 cases of dengue over the past two weeks, taking its total number from January 1 to August 31 this year to 92 only.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Sunday flagged off the ‘Mosquito Terminator Train’ in cooperation with the Northern Railways to prevent mosquito breeding in the areas adjoining the railway tracks.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Sunday flagged off the ‘Mosquito Terminator Train’ in cooperation with the Northern Railways to prevent mosquito breeding in the areas adjoining the railway tracks.

Additional commissioner of EDMC, Alka Sharma, said, “A truck-mounted power sprayer has been provided by the EDMC to ride on the train bogey and spray the medicine during train movement to sanitise the areas up to a distance of 50-60 metres along the rail line.”

“It has a tank full of over 8,000 litres of insecticide diflubenzuron to be sprayed in the areas adjoining the tracks including slums and urban villages which are sometimes hard to reach for the Domestic Breeding Checkers (DBCs) and safai karmcharis. Theses areas, which do not have good roads or a steady water supply, usually have stagnant water,” said a public health official of EDMC who requested not to be named.

Delhi has reported 35 cases of dengue over the past two weeks, taking its total number from January 1 to August 31 this year to 92 only. Last year, 107 cases were confirmed during the corresponding period. Chikungunya cases have also dropped to 22 from the 44 cases reported in the corresponding period last year.