Delhi: Illegal colonies, construction sites, schools key mosquito breeding hotspots

Senior officials said that around 100 breeding sites have been found in schools under the jurisdiction of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

A senior SDMC official said the Public Health Department found this during inspections carried out last week. The corporation has issued 71 notices and 19 challans in areas such as Manglapuri, Kakrola, Dwarka Sector 6, Sainik Enclave Part-2, RK Puram Sector 8, Vikaspuri, Vasant Kunj and Greater Kailash.

One of the reasons could be that most schools remained closed for a long time, affecting maintenance, he said. “The backyards of many of these schools have a drain line where water gets collected; also the terraces are not being cleaned… Because they have fewer staff managing the premises nowadays, stagnant water leads to breeding,” he said.

The first death due to dengue this season was reported in Delhi on Monday.

According to the civic report on vector-borne diseases, 723 dengue cases have been recorded this season till October 16 — the highest case count since 2018 for the same period.

Officials said that most sites have been found in unauthorised colonies — on terraces, water tanks or construction sites. “At construction sites, people keep water stored… also there is stuff lying unused for a long time that leads to breeding,” said the official. There are also cases where water gets collected in cups and disposables that people throw, he said.

South MCD Mayor Mukesh Suryan said fogging has started, and workers have been asked to intensify the drives. “Hotspots are regularly checked and medicines sprayed,” he said.

AAP MLA Atishi, meanwhile, said Tuesday that MCDs had not taken a single step in time to prevent dengue in Delhi. “BJP-ruled MCD has the responsibility for the prevention of malaria and dengue under the DMC Act. But it has washed its hands off the responsibility… It is the responsibility of the MCD to send teams of breeding checkers to visit every home and see if there’s stagnant water… The second responsibility of the MCDs is to do fogging in every colony and area of Delhi. But at this time very little fogging has happened… MCD does not have enough fogging machines. Where did the money that is allocated for the machines in the budget go?”