Hyderabad: The highest number of complaints about mosquito menace are coming from areas like Kompally, Nacharam, Saket, Kapra Lake, Alwal, R K Puram lake area, Moula Ali, Saket, Kukatpally, Bowenpally, Jubilee Hills and Madhapur.
Mr V. Venkatesh, chief entomologist, said, “These mosquitoes are breeding due to the availability of dirty water. If proper hygiene is maintained, the numbers are sure to reduce.”
Fogging is carried out once a week but that has not proved a deterrent for these mosquitoes. They are up and around the next day. Angry residents are using electric bats, but even that hasn’t helped. Windows have been “netted” and there are plenty of repellants, but to no avail.
The basic problem is that sewage drains in many areas are overflowing, providing the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Overflowing drains have been reported in many areas in the city and residents are constantly sending complaints via email to bring it to the notice of GHMC.
Mr J. Sreedhar Rao, a local resident, said, “I complain every week and they respond by sending the fogging team. But if one week the complaint is not given, the fogging team does not arrive. With such a state of affairs how can problems of tax-paying residents be solved?”
Plant mosquitoes bedevil houses
The rising number of plant mosquitoes in the city have created panic among citizens. People are worried at the hardiness of these insects who seem to be able to survive despite the use of all kinds of repellents.
Most complaints coming to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials are of mosquito infestations in bathrooms, near kitchen sinks and garbage dumps.Apartments and colonies with garbage dumps close to their gates are finding it difficult to manage; residents say that no amount of fogging is killing the plant mosquitoes.
Rama Krishna, a senior citizen of Saket, explained, “The sewage drains are clogged and no desilting work has been carried out. Due to this, in the evening, we are finding a lot of mosquitoes in the area around the drains. It becomes difficult to come out of the homes at night as one is scared that a mosquito bite will cause diseases.”Similarly, within homes, people are resorting to burning of mosquito coils, vapourisers and using paper pesticides.
Paediatrician Dr Karuna Madap explained, “These mosquitoes do not cause any diseases as they breed in dirty water. They do not carry any virus. But the burning of coils and papers at home can affect children and also senior citizens. Hence hygiene in surrounding areas must be maintained to reduce their number.”“The quantity of urban garbage has led to the numbers of mosquitoes to swell increased more than 10 times this summer,” the doctor added.
