A proliferation in the number of mosquitoes is giving residents a scare in Salt Lake and its adjoining areas in northeast Kolkata.
Multiple places along VIP Road, including Lake Town, Baguiati and Teghoria, too, are facing an onslaught of the winged insect. Like residents of Salt Lake, they, too, have to keep their doors and windows shut for most of the day.
An official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, which provides civic amenities to areas including Salt Lake, Baguiati, Lake Town and Teghoria, said they were handicapped by defunct larvicide-spraying equipment and a severe shortage of larvicide.
Adding to the civic body’s and residents’ woes, stagnant water of the Kestopur canal and the Eastern Drainage Channel, which cut across Salt Lake and flow past areas off VIP Road such as Bangur Avenue, Lake Town and Baguiati, have turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“We are running short of larvicide and fresh orders are yet to be placed. We supply larvicide to all 41 wards but have not been able to do so for the past couple of months,” said the official.
The situation is such that people are covering almost their entire body or rubbing insect repellant on the exposed parts before stepping out for their morning or evening walk. “We are keeping all our doors and windows shut. I also have to put insect repellant all over my arms, nape and neck to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes during my daily walk,” said Mahua Chakraborty, a resident of BH Block.
On Wednesday, The Telegraph spotted several places where there were stagnant pools of water, formed by water leaking from taps and flowing off roadside eateries, in Salt Lake and Sector V.
Public health experts have warned that throwing water in places where it can accumulate can result in formation of mosquito breeding sites. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which causes dengue, can breed in a coin-sized pool of water.
In New Town, too, the number of mosquitoes has surged.
An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority, which looks after the civic amenities of the township, said they were spraying larvicide and checking water bodies.
