CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Corporation’s plan at the start of the year to bring in a lot of machines to tackle the problem of waste accumulation in water bodies has paid off as the total number of complaints about mosquitoes has reduced by 17% till November as compared to the last year, official data shows.
In 2019, GCC received 7,920 complaints while this year, the number has reduced to 6,520 so far, official data shows.
These complaints are received through different means including the Namma Chennai mobile application, complaint number 1913, social media and in the form of physical complaints as well. Officials said the improvement was significant as many residents were at home during the lockdown and if the mosquito menace had not decreased, they would have gotten more complaints than last year. Usually number of complaints start peaking from the July-August period, when rains hit the city first.
Officials said improvement has been significant, but much more needs to be done to bring down the number of complaints further.
“Usually, water stagnation and waste floating on water bodies is also considered to be adding to mosquito menace and logged into the system as such,” a senior official said. Usually, mosquito breeding points are found at places where stormwater drains are choked and on water bodies like canal where there is extensive growth of hyacinth or floating garbage.
The decrease in the number of complaints has primarily been through removal of these floating garbage on water bodies, said a senior official.
“At the start of the year, GCC procured amphibians, mini amphibians and robotic excavators. Each of the three regions had at least one such machine which was pressed into service diligently throughout the year to remove the floating garbage in lakes, ponds and canals,” the official said.
Highest number of complaints was received from Anna Nagar, Kodambakkam, Tondiarpet, Teynampet, Adyar and Royapuram zones. These are also the zones where there has been a significant reduction in the number of complaints from the previous years.
However, a key issue faced by the corporation is floating garbage in Adyar and Cooum rivers and Buckingham Canal, which are under public works department’s control. “They have not yet started mechanising their cleaning operations,” the official said.