CHENNAI: Summer is setting in and city residents have begun feeling the pinch but the reason is not the rising mercury, it is mosquitoes.
More than 1,300 complaints related to mosquito menace have been raised by mid-March this year, shows data obtained from
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).
While the drive against mosquitoes looks set to become yet another instance of firefighting, the civic body could have avoided the situation had it followed through with a proposal to set up real-time vector control monitoring system. According to
Vidya Rajeshkumar, director of
Xpertii On Air Tracking Solutions Pvt Ltd, which developed the software, the real-time tracking system would allow field staffers to upload data live from the spot. “This reduces the delay in submitting reports and helps the corporation collate and analyse various data points related to mosquitoes,” she said.
In June and September 2017, TOI reported the details of the project that is estimated to cost Rs9 lakh. Subsequently, the state government wrote to the civic body asking to be kept informed of the project’s status. In September 2017, the GCC successfully completed a trial run of the software. “It seemed like the commissioner and other senior staffers were impressed with the software’s potential. So, it is hard to explain why they (administrators) are still hesitating. In the long run, the city stands to gain with this tracking system,” said a corporation source.
The source added that the tracking system’s cost could be borne out of the annual budgetary allocation (around Rs5 crore) given to the vector control department. When TOI contacted P Madhusudhan Reddy, deputy commissioner (health), GCC, he said the tracking system project was “in progress” but did not elaborate.
Silt buildup and hyacinth remain the top cause for increase in mosquito breeding grounds, said corporation officials. “A robotic excavator is now working in Adyar river near
Kotturpuram. We will get rid of the breeding grounds soon,” a corporation official said.
On the ground, monthly average of complaints too has increased. For instance, the number of complaints about mosquito menace registered in February is 20% more than same period last year. “The (mosquito) situation has become unbearable since February. We raised complaints but the problem has only worsened,” said B Sivakumar, a resident of Kotturpuram. Adyar (zone 13) led the neighbourhoods in registering the most complaints in 2018.
Representative image
