RIMS is looking forward to rat-free days. A Telegraph file picture

Ranchi, Oct. 20: God of good luck, Lord Ganesha, may not be happy reading this piece of news but the authorities of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has geared up to wage a ?war? against, his carriers, rats.

The RIMS administration is planning to approach the Pest Control (India) Limited, a Mumbai-based company, for killing rats, which have become a nuisance to the institute.

The company officials conducted their trial demonstration today and a formal contract is expected to take place in a few days.

The company has drawn up a ?detailed strategy? to defeat the ?rat army?. A company official said both chemical and mechanical weapons will be adopted to make RIMS a rat-free place.

?Roban Cake, which contains bromodiolone, an anti-coagulant chemical, will be used indoors. Rats, which consume the cake, start feeling uneasy and subsequently die within three to four days moving outside the house,? an official of the company said.

The officials have also decided to use sulphose tablets, containing aluminium phosphide for rats who hide inside burrows or holes outside the wards and breed.

?We will keep the tablets inside the holes and then cover them with moist soil. Thechemical (aluminimum phosphide), when comes in contact with moisture, forms a poisonous gas called phosphene,? the official further said.

There are also a host of mechanical devices in the company?s repertoire.

The ?trouble gum?, for instance, contains a sticky material that sticks rats to it. The rodents finally die within three to four hours. The gums will be placed along the sidewalls, one of the most favourite route of the rats.

?Snap trap? is another mechanical device, where metallic traps are placed in the wards with baits (like rice). As soon as the rat gets trapped, the device squeezes and kills the animal instantly.

The company is one of Asia?s largest in the fiels od pest control and is also involved in other such projects in medical institutions all over the country.

The medical superintendent of RIMS, S.K. Chaudhary, said the decision to make RIMS ?rat-free? given their competence to wreak a havoc.

?They damage wires, costly equipment and also destroy edible items. A number of instruments can become useless because of them. Many equipments become useless because of them. They have becomea nuisance,? he added.