BMC issues 8,774 notices to premises of owners to check on mosquitoes-breeding area

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday released information on the action it had taken to check the spread of dengue after BMC issued a notice to NGO Praja Foundation for alleged misinterpretation of facts in its latest health report,which claimed that dengue cases have seen a massive steep of 265 per cent in Mumbai in the last five years.

According to the BMC,Public Health Department had conducted inspections to check breeding places for the disease spreading mosquitoes from January 1 to July 15, this year.As per the report, the BMC made 62,43,597 house visits during these past six months and issued 8,774 notices to owners of premises with unprotected water tanks,wells,fountains and so on.

It collected Rs.20,04,600 in fines from notices issued for not adhering to safety standards.Dr.Rajan Naringrekar,pesticide officer of the BMC said that there were 7,586 places where the larva of Aedes Agypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito,one that can spread dengue fever,chikungunya,Zika fever,Mayro and yellow fever viruses.

In 2,674 places, the BMC team found larvae of the malaria causing Anopheles mosquitoes.These breeding sites have now been eliminated.The BMC also appealed to the citizens of Mumbai to destroy all useless scrap material like tyres,thermocol,coconut remains and plastic as water is stored in them and they becoming breeding ground for infectious mosquitoes.

BMC made an earnest request to all citizens to not stored water in utensils or any other storage places for more than seven days and people have to ensure that water tanks are cleaned every week.On July 13, deputy municipal commissioner(public health), Sunil Dhamne and executive health officer,BMC,Dr.Padmaja Keskar had issued a notice to NGO Praja Foundation for its report 'State of Health of Mumbai', saying that the same 'misinterpreted' facts and was 'misleading' and was an attempt to tarnish the image of the civic body.According to the NGO report, dengue cases in Mumbai has increased from 4,867 in 2012-13 to 17,771 in 2016-17. 

In a notice, BMC said,"It appears from the report that the whole aim of the exercise has been to malign the public body and mislead the citizens at large".The BMC threatened actions against the NGO if a public clarification is not issued by them."It seems that you have done random collection of data from health facilities and added it,making it unclear",it stated.