Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

City launches war on mosquitoes

— Photo: S. Mahinsha

On the offensive: Minister for Law M. Vijayakumar operates a spraying machine mounted on a boat to inaugurate the city Corporation’s vector control drive near the heavily polluted Parvathy Puthanar canal in the city on Sunday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar has stressed the need for public participation in vector control activities. He was speaking after inaugurating the city Corporation’s intensive vector control programme at Chakka here on Sunday.

Mr. Vijayakumar said timely intervention by the Corporation had managed to keep infectious diseases like chikungunya and dengue fever at bay in the capital city even when other parts of the State were reeling under epidemics. He also called for steps to control the use of plastic.

Mr. Vijayakumar inaugurated the programme by operating a larvicide spraying machine mounted on a boat moored to the bank of the heavily-polluted Parvathy Puthanar canal. Mayor C. Jayan Babu, V. Surendran Pillai, MLA, Deputy Mayor V. Jayaprakash, Health Standing Committee chairman G.R. Anil, ward councillor S. Ratheendran, UDF leader Johnson Joseph and Health Officer D. Sreekumar were present.

The Corporation has deployed boats and pressed 88 vector control workers into service to spray eco-friendly larvicide in the Parvathy Puthanar and Amayizhanjan canals and the sewage farm at Valiathura, identified as the three main mosquito breeding centres in the capital.

Dr. Sreekumar said the Corporation had procured bio-larvicide that was safe to be used in the canal without affecting fish and other organisms. He said the canals were selected for the initial phase of the drive because of the increased density of mosquitoes in the polluted waters.

“We have drawn up plans to enlist the support of residents’ associations for the follow-up activities of the vector control drive. Community participation is crucial to the effort,” points out Dr. Sreekumar. “The next priority will be to update the data on mosquito breeding centres in the city. The initial data was prepared by workers and was not comprehensive.”

Ward-level health committees are being primed for the follow-up activities of the vector control programme. “Elimination of breeding centres will be the primary objective. Regular spraying of larvicide and cleaning up drains and gutters are some of the activities that will be carried out in the coming days,” Dr. Sreekumar added.

The Corporation has committed an assistance of Rs.20,000 for each ward to take up the vector control programme.

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