Mumbai civic body destroys 10,000 mosquito breeding spots in six months

BMC finds dengue, malaria carriers in 8,744 of 62 lakh homes they visited in Mumbai.

The insecticide department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) visited around 62 lakh houses and found more than 10,000 mosquito breeding spots in 8,744 of them over the past six months. Officials said they collected Rs20 lakh in fine from residents who failed to eliminate mosquito breeding spots in their homes.

80% of dengue patients had breeding spots in or around their homes. (HT FILE)

Rajan Naringrekar, insecticide officer, BMC, said the civic body focussed its efforts on finding breeding grounds of dengue carrier Aedes aegypti and malaria carrier Anopheles stephensi.

From January 1 to July 15, 10, 260 breeding spots were found, of which 7,586 had larvae of Aedes aegypti and 2,674 had those of Anopheles stephensi .

“The issue is serious because a single female mosquito lays around 100-150 eggs at a time. She does so four times in her life span, which is three weeks. Negligence could lead to breeding of 400-600 mosquitoes which carry dengue and malaria,” said Naringrekar.

Officials said they visited 62.43 lakh houses in the city, some more than once, to destroy breeding spots. “Not protecting water tanks, wells and surroundings from mosquitoes were the most common offences,” Naringrekar added.

Data from the past two years suggested that 80% of dengue patients had breeding spots in or around their homes.Naringrekar said since mosquitoes only breed in fresh water, people can control the spread of the disease right from their own homes.

“We have been advising residents to clean ornamental trees, feng-shui plants, bamboo plants, money plants, plates, pots, refrigerators and air-conditioners regularly to avoid dengue infection. For malaria too, people have to be cautious because the mosquito can breed wherever rainwater accumulates,” he added.