Growing
swarms of pests torment city’s denizens
The
mosquito menace is snowballing into a political issue in the city with the Left
Democratic Front (LDF) pulling up the civic administration for its failure to
control the pest population.
The
front has also threatened to launch agitations, accusing the civic administration
of having failed to act and protect the people from the pest.
The
previous LDF regime had procured five fogging machines. They are no longer in
use. Flushing the drains using sea water was stopped three years ago, said K.N.
Sunilkumar, secretary of the LDF Parliamentary party of the Kochi Corporation.
The
civic authorities had called off fogging operations along interior roads. The
mosquito attacks have reached unprecedented levels. It may even lead to the
outbreak of some contagious diseases in the city, he said.
Though
the Mayor had assured the previous council meeting that pest control measures
would be initiated shortly, he had failed to keep his word. The posts of senior
officials of the administration, who were to lead the officials of the local
body for such jobs, had been lying vacant. The State government and the Kochi
Corporation, it seemed, were not keen on filling the vacancies, he said.
A
special meeting of the Kochi Corporation Council should be convened to explain
to the people the measures initiated by the administration to tackle the crisis
situation, he said.
At
the same time, T.K.Ashraf, Chairman of the Health Standing Committee, said that
the local body had initiated fogging in the city on Friday at Panampilly Nagar
as decided earlier. It would be extended to other parts of the city too.
The
city had been experiencing an increase in the mosquito population during the
December-January period for long. It is also the case with other parts of the
district. The local body had strengthened the drive by providing more equipment
and support mechanism for the workers. Arrangements for clearing the salary
arrears of workers engaged in the divisions for the anti-mosquito drive have
been made, he said.
The
local body has no plans to renew the flushing of drains with sea water as it
had invited audit objections. The flushing of drains was introduced when the
city lacked effective measures to check the mosquito population. The
administration was focusing on controlling the population of the insects at
source, he said.
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