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The JNAC office in Sakchi on Friday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta
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The Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) has decided to smoke out the sting menace from the city this year.
The civic body, which provides amenities to major areas of the steel city, will procure five fogging machines this year to add to combat the mosquito threat.
The new machines will be purchased from unused funds allocated to JNAC during the 2012-13 fiscal budget.
Speaking to The Telegraph on Friday, JNAC special officer R.N. Dwivedi said the move had been necessitated as the lone fogging machine they had was proving inadequate to cover all areas under the civic body’s jurisdiction.
“The machine we had was not enough to cover all the areas under us. So we conducted a survey and decided to procure five more to combat the sting menace,” Dwivedi said.
He added that members of the scheme selection committee had made an unanimous recommendation for the purchase of fogging machines after the survey in the slum areas of Shastrinagar, Ranikudar, Ramnagar, Bhuiyandih, Baridih, Bagunhatu, Sonari and Sitaramdera revealed the extent of mosquito breeding.
Sources said the civic body had a little over Rs 6 crore left in its kitty from last year’s allocation, funds that JNAC was looking to spend before fresh grants arrived.
Apart from the five fogging machines JNAC will also pump in money to construct drains, roads and culverts.
“There are over 90 projects that we need to invest money in. Most of them are related to construction of proper drainage systems. Mosquitoes usually breed in clogged drains,” the senior civic body officer said.
He added that they targeted slums during their survey as most of the shanties had drains that were either broken or incomplete.
“We have also decided to inter-connect the drains so that they do not clog at joints and there is no stagnant water for mosquito breeding,” Dwivedi said.
Apart from this, the civic body official said they would also give priority to drinking water projects this year and come up with a number of tube wells in the slum.
“The tender process for all projects, including procurement of fogging machines, will be opened on March 4 and 6. Work on all the projects is likely to begin by the middle of March,” Dwivedi added.
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