Tk 358.1 crore spent on control dives in four years
Mosquito population in Dhaka has swelled, menacing city life, although the city authorities have spent about Tk 358.1 crore over four years on control programmes.
Residents of many areas such as Central Road, Aftabnagar, Uttara, Bhatara, New Eskaton Road, Bangla Motors, Mogbazar, Kalshi, Banani and Mohammadpur have said that they can stay neither indoors nor outdoors because of the mosquito menace.
They allege no effective mosquito control measures, noting that the city authorities rarely spray larvicide and hardly clean water bodies.
Official papers say that the Dhaka North City Corporation spent about Tk 243.85 crore and the Dhaka South City Corporation about Tk 114.25 crore on mosquito control in 2020鈥�2024 financial years. The north city authorities have Tk 110 crore and the south city authorities Tk 40 crore earmarked for mosquito control for the 2024-2025 financial year.
Experts, however, warn that unless the city authorities take early, effective measures, the mosquito population would continue to increase as this is the prime breeding season.
鈥業t鈥檚 not a handful of them. Mosquitoes swarm around us, even in the daytime. We keep doors and windows closed. Sometimes, they even fly into the mouth and the ear. We use mosquito coils. But it makes the eyes itchy. And, the bites leave children scratching the skin,鈥� said Tahmina Akter, a housewife who lives at Demra.
鈥楲ife has become miserable because of mosquito menace,鈥� she said, adding that the city authorities sprayed larvicide once two months ago at Dogair Natun Para. 鈥楾here鈥檚 a canal near by that hasn鈥檛 been cleaned for a long time.鈥�
Shamim, who also lives at Demra, said that he studies or works on the laptop sitting inside a mosquito curtain.
Nayon Sorkar, a bachelor鈥檚 student who has stayed in a tent inside the Panthakunja park at Bangla Motors since December 14 as part of a movement seeking to protect the park from the elevated expressway project, said that several hundred mosquitoes attack at once, making it difficult to talk.
鈥楾he city authorities have sprayed larvicide only once, on January 4, since I began to stay here. They, too, did it only on a request,鈥� he added.
Suraiya Begum, a housewife who lives at Solmaid of Bhatara, said that she keeps all the doors and windows closed round the clock to protect her two children from dengue infection.
鈥業n September last year, my husband contracted dengue. He then called the north city authorities for spraying adulticide. That was last when the area was fogged,鈥� she said.
Entomologist Kabirul Bashar, who conducts surveys on mosquitoes, said, 鈥業n January 2024, about 150 mosquitoes bit a person an hour on an average in the metropolitan city. But this January, the number has nearly doubled. If an early action is not taken, the mosquito population will continue to swell by up to 20 per cent every day until March 15.鈥�
About 99 per cent of the mosquitoes in this period are Culex, which may cause filaria. Filarial parasites have, however, not been found in Culex mosquitoes in Dhaka, said Kabirul Bashar, also a professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University.
Aedes mosquitoes, the primary vector of dengue, are prevalent in the city. Directorate General of Health Services records show 433 cases of dengue infection in the capital in January鈥揊ebruary 5. Seven of them have died.
Official statistics put the countrywide hospital admission because dengue at 1,236 in the period, with 10 death in all.
The chief health officer of the south city authorities, Nishat Parvin, has admitted to the surge in Culex mosquitoes in the first week of January. She has, however, claimed that the mosquito density has decreased after a week-long mosquito control drive in January.
She has said that seven mosquito control workers spray larvicide in the morning in each of the 75 south city wards and six workers spray adulticide in the afternoon regularly.
Nasima Khanom, Zone 9 executive officer of the north city authorities, has said that the authorities regularly conduct mosquito control drives.
Sonia Sultana, an assistant health officer of the city authorities, has said that the north city authorities were supposed to spray larvicide in an area every three days, but the schedule could sometimes be disrupted because of other activities such as eviction drives.
The chief health officer of the north city authorities, Imru-al-Quais, could not be reached for comments.
Kabirul Bashar has said that no rainfall, especially at winter鈥檚 end, leaves water in drains, lakes and canals dense, increasing organic matters that are an ideal food for mosquito larvae. Rising spring temperature accelerates the development of mosquito eggs and larvae in the water, leading to a sharp surge in mosquito population.
