Ballygunge Circular Road. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya and Talat Salahuddin

Ballygunge Circular Road, that winds its way from Ballygunge Phari in the south and meets Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in the north, is a tree-lined avenue with a lot of surrounding greenery. The sprawling Ballygunge Maidan Camp and the Ballygunge Science College campus are the dominant green zones here. A part of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s (CMC) ward No. 69, this is primarily a residential area populated by a cosmopolitan crowd and of course the most elusive Calcuttan — Suchitra Sen.

Peeve point

The residents here have borne the brunt of malaria ever since its re-emergence in the late nineties. In fact, there hasn’t been a single year in recent times when malaria cases have not been reported from here. And with the monsoon setting in, residents are bracing up for the onslaught with coils, mats and liquidators. “A baby in a cradle here grows up inhaling these fuliginous gases,” said 60-year-old Mauna Chakraborty, who has lived most of her life here.

Recent data show that in 2007, of the 1,561 slides received in the CMC-run malaria clinic for ward No. 69, 213 tested positive for malaria. This year till May, 254 slides have been tested of which 24 proved to be malaria cases. And monsoon is yet to set in properly.

Civic authorities, on their part, spray larvicides regularly but without much result. As the sun goes down, mosquitoes swarm down on the residential houses and apartments around the Ballygunge military camp and the Ballygunge Science College campus.

“A peculiar feature in this area is the prevalence of the anopheles mosquito even in the higher floors of an apartment,” said a faculty member of Calcutta University’s department of environmental sciences.

“These are geophilic mosquitoes, as opposed to geophobic ones, which thrive in higher altitudes,” he added.

The prevalence of water bodies on the Science College campus together with accumulating rainwater in the Ballygunge Maidan Camp make this stretch a veritable breeding ground of mosquitoes.

Civicspeak

“The military campus on Ballygunge Circular Road is the main breeding ground of mosquitoes in the area. We have repeatedly brought the matter to the notice of the army but they have not responded. We have not received a single request from them to carry out larvae control measures on their grounds. If they approach us, we will definitely undertake extensive measures to control the breeding of larvae there,” said Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay, the chief municipal health officer.

He also alleged that the residents here are reluctant to visit the malaria clinic. “Death from malaria is unfortunate and it takes place because of negligence. There isn’t a single case of death in our clinics,” he added.

Talat Salahuddin

What is the best/worst thing about living on Ballygunge Circular Road? Write to us at southmetro@abpmail.com