BMC to deploy drones for mosquito control

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will introduce chemical spray using drones to deal with mosquito menace in the city as the current manpower and infrastructure are not sufficient. The drones will be deployed in inaccessible locations like abandoned plots, narrow lanes and pools. The civic body will also increase manpower and infrastructure for fogging.
“Like the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), we will identify the source of mosquitoes and control its growth through drones. This will start from December 23,” said Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das. BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange said they will deploy drones where fogging vehicles or chemical spraying machines cannot enter, he added.
He said the BMC team will identify the mosquito breeding spots including water bodies, abandoned plots and narrow lanes and spray the chemicals by using drones.
The state government launched a drone survey last month to facilitate a process to give land deeds to slum-dwellers in the city. Drones were also used in the city during Covid time to carry out proper surveillance of Covid-19 lockdown.
Official sources said the BMC has already followed a practice to reduce the source of mosquito breeding in the city. It is organising Dry Day for this purpose.
The commissioner said the BMC is taking all necessary steps for proper fogging. We will increase the manpower by creating three new fogging teams till next one month. They will start working from Friday. We are putting emphasis on mass cleaning and bush cutting at several places where mosquito menace is rampant. Bush cutting exercise will also be started. A scientific team will also conduct study on their life cycles and advise the team to control it, he added. The civic body was criticised for increasing dengue cases in the city from July to October.