NEW DELHI: Despite targeted campaigns to check the city’s vector menace, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has detected mosquito breeding sites in more than 29,500 premises during an intensive drive.
During the drive, which was conducted between January 1 and August 16, maximum sites for the breeding of aedes/anopheles mosquitoes, which are considered the carriers of the deadly dengue and malaria, were found in 23.5% of the city’s construction sites, 16% of office complexes and 13% market places.
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Some of the prominent sites where officials of the SDMC’s health department carried out the intensive campaign, are Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, Raja Garden; CRPF School, Sec.16, Dwarka, Sector 23 police station, Dwarka; DCP Office, Sector 19, Dwarka; Fire Station Sector 6, Dwarka, Construction Site GMR Airport Authority, Airport, Construction Site Terminal 3 Airport, Lajpat Nagar Market, East of Kailash and Kalkaji Market, among others.
On the basis of findings that the inspection threw up, the department issued legal notices and challans as per provisions under Delhi Municipal Corporation (Malaria & Other Mosquito Borne Diseases) By-laws, 1957.
“But the problem is that legal notices and challans fail to deter violators, as they are not scared of them. Local courts don’t take such matters seriously and let the violators go most of the time without even issuing them fines. Also, many residents don’t cooperate with our domestic breeding checkers and turn a deaf ear to their pleas of throwing out stagnant water,” an SDMC official said.