Kolkata municipal corporation experts to help New Town get rid of mosquitoes

KOLKATA: The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) is taking up mosquito-control measures in New Town and surrounding areas, including Sector V. Recently, a meeting was held with entomologists of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to find out ways to control the menace in the township.
It was decided in the meeting that the agency that has been engaged by NKDA for fogging and spraying larvicide across New Town will consult the entomologists in presence of NKDA officials to work out on the plan.The KMC’s team of entomologists will visit New Town soon to look into problems and come up with solutions. The fluctuation in temperature is helping mosquitoes to grow in numbers, an NKDA official said.

It has been decided that mosquito magnet traps will be installed in Sector V, where the mosquito menace seems to have increased in leaps and bounds. NKDA had earlier installed these magnets at four places in New Town — Eco Park, the open air theatre of Nazrul Tirtha, the open lawn of Rabindra Tirtha and Eco Urban Village — to trap mosquitoes.

NKDA officials said they were optimising larvicide spraying and fogging across the township, with special attention on larvae killing on the canal banks. “A green drive will be taken on the canal banks to remove weeds and other biomass accumulation that are potential mosquito-breeding sources,” an official said. Moreover, mosquito nets will be used at construction sites and guppy fish will be released in water bodies on a weekly basis.
Entomologist Gautam Chandra, whom NKDA authorities had earlier consulted, said that mosquito that could be seen now is mostly of Culex species that breeds in unclean water during this season. “This mosquito heavily breeds during this time and can fly up to 5km,” he said.
Residents of the township have already grown tired of the mosquito menace. People are finding it difficult to even stand for a few minutes on the streets. “The situation has become unbearable. We cannot stand or sit in the open. Fogging seems to be the only way to somewhat control the situation,” said Swapan Kumar Ghosh, a resident of New Town Action Area 1.
“Vacant plots and under-construction buildings have turned into breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Precautionary measures need to be taken at these sites,” said Samaresh Das, chairperson of New Town Forum and News (NTFN), a local NGO.