Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation wages war on mosquitoes

Stung by non-stop complaints about mosquito menace from residents living in Marol and nearby area in Andheri (East), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday initiated removal of water hyacinth from Mithi river, which was aiding in rampant breeding of mosquitoes.

A senior official from K/East ward informed that two poclain machines had been deployed and the water hyacinth will be completely removed from almost 6 km stretch of the Mithi river.

"One machine has been deployed near Sabaug and Ashok Nagar area while the other machine has been deployed near Saki Naka belt. The areas will be cleared of hyacinth within a couple of days," said the official adding the PCO staff from K/East ward will intensify spraying of insecticides from Tuesday in these areas to combat mosquito breeding.

Activist and resident of Chimatpada, Ravi Nair who has been following up this issue with the ward office for almost a month now said that the mosquito menace had seen a major increase last week. "While we are glad that BMC has begun the work of hyacinth removal we hope they will complete the work soon. People in our locality have been suffering due to the mosquito bites. We also hope that BMC puts a proper mechanism in place to ensure removal of hyacinth post monsoon every year rather than waiting for citizens to file multiple complaints," he said.