Cuttack: Mosquito menace in the city has increased manifold as the civic body's vector control measures have been practically limited to spraying larvicide oil in drains for more than a month now.

Fogging machines were withdrawn after use for one month during February.

Residents of various localities, under the banner of Mahanagar Nagarika Mancha, brought the issue into focus on Monday by submitting a memorandum to the collector and demanding mosquito control measures.

The manch activists rallied against the civic body for not tackling the issue effectively. Manch convener Chittaranjan Mohanty said: "The civic administration is yet to give required attention to potential breeding sites. The drains are not cleaned on time".

"In fact, the rapid spread of water hyacinth in water bodies across the city, including the 3km-long water channel in Markatnagar, is the sole contributory factor for the increase in mosquito population," Mohanty said.

Chairman of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation's standing committee for sanitation and health Ranjan Kumar Biswal said: "We are doing whatever we can to control the mosquito menace."

"Though fogging has been stopped, we are destroying breeding sites near industrial areas, commercial centres and other public places by spraying larvicide oil and larvicide powder," Biswal said.

"Besides, anti-mosquito medicine fogging is not advisable in temperatures above 30°C," he said.

Health officer Manas Ranjan Samantaray said cleaning of drains were underway. "Silts have already been removed from 90 per cent of small, tertiary and branch drains."

An official source said tenders had already been invited for removal of silt from main drains. The allocated funds for mosquito control has been increased from Rs 1.9 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 3.3 crore in 2018-19, a source said.

In January, City Congress committee president Md Moquim threatened to hit the streets if steps to control the menace were not taken. Within a week, the civic body started fogging in all 59 wards of the city with one portable machine for each ward. It continued till the end of February.

Fogging was not effective in January as it was limited to the main roads, the residents had alleged.