Mosquitoes are back, Panchkula calls for fogging

PANCHKULA: Mosquitoes have bred rapidly in many areas, forcing people to ask for urgent fogging in the town. Various resident welfare associations of Panchkula accuse the municipal corporation of sitting idle and letting conditions for a vector-borne epidemic build.
The groups also say that summer is just about picking up but mosquitoes have appeared already in the residential areas. People fear outbreak of dengue fever or malaria. Dengue fever has killed several people here in the past. Citizen welfare association (CWA) president S K Nayar said: “We have asked the MC to spray anti-mosquito fumes in each sector once or twice but the civic body has not responded.”
Residents also alleged that since the installation of mosquito-killer machines developed by American space agency Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the MC was not bothered to do fogging to stop the breeding of mosquitoes. For preventing dengue fever and malaria, the MC purchased 10 environment-friendly mosquito-killing machines in 2018 and deployed those in poor colonies and rural areas of the district.
Municipal commissioner Rajesh Jogpal had said at the time of installation of these machines that the Panchkula health department’s reports on sensitive zones had prompted the MC to buy these devices based on mosquito behavior, which are effective for 100 metres. The machine kills no other insect other than mosquito.
Confronted, the MC health department officials said they responded promptly to any request for fogging machines and fogging squad. They claim that many special teams have sprayed Tamiphos medicine and black oil over stagnant water to kill mosquito larvae. “The health department is also trying to generate public awareness by launching a door-to-door campaign,” an official said.
The Panchkula MC has bought six mosquito-killing machines developed by Nasa a decade ago. The machine is based on the mosquito's tendency of getting attracted to the human body. The machine emits carbon dioxide to mimics human body's heat signature and natural breathing pattern. This is to lure the mosquito to suckers fitting on the surface. When the vectors sit on the surface, the propeller blades fitted inside kill the swarm. Last year, the MC trained this Nasa guns on mosquitoes.
The machine can kill mosquitoes faster than the rate of germination. Kalka slums got two machines, while Panchkula slums got four. Fogging and putting oil into stagnant water tends to be ineffective, if the water flows constantly. The Nasa machines are installed at the Mumbai and Delhi airports and many hotels also use the technology. Panckula councillors had visited Delhi to study the functioning of these machines to see if these were good.