Cuttack, Dec. 11: The mosquito menace has assumed serious proportions here with the insect's density level reaching an alarming 62 as the civic body is reeling from lack of infrastructure to tackle the situation.

The density of mosquitoes is defined as the average of number of mosquitoes biting 10 persons per hour. A mosquito density of around 30 is said to be normal, while 40 is considered moderate and any density level beyond 40 is tagged as high.

Residents of the city are worrying that the mosquito menace would worsen further as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation is yet to intensify pre-winter fogging or anti-larvae operations in 59 wards across the city.

On the other hand, the civic body does not have the infrastructure to start a rigorous anti-mosquito drive in all areas simultaneously.

A senior civic official, who did not want to be named, said that the fight against the deadly mosquitoes might be adversely affected this year because 12 handheld fogging machines are lying dysfunctional.

"Only 45 of the 57 machines are in working condition," he said.

As a result, people are left with no option but to depend on mosquito repellents and other household techniques to save themselves from the deadly sting.

"We find no change in the civic body's measures to combat the mosquito menace despite the city witnessing a severe dengue outbreak earlier this year," said Jaya Pradhan, 37, a resident of Dolmundai.

He added that the sanitary staff of the civic body, whose primary job is to clear clogged drains and spray larvaecides, are not found doing their job anywhere in their vicinity.

Taking cue, Opposition parties have started criticising the municipal corporation for "not being able to devise a mechanism to combat mosquito menace".

The Congress will launch a demonstration from next week in protest against the failure of the corporation in tackling the mosquito menace.

"The mosquito population in the city has risen mainly because the main stormwater channel No. 1 has remained blocked due to construction activities under the integrated sanitation project," said Congress councillor of ward No. 4 Giribala Behera.

Behera alleged that the municipal corporation's health wing remained a mute spectator while stagnated sewage had turned into mosquito breeding sites in several areas.

BJP councillor from ward No. 48 Nirod Chandra Panda also told The Telegraph that the civic body was not taking any action to check breeding of mosquitoes.

City health officer P.K. Pradhan admitted the rise in the mosquito density and promised swift action.

"We will launch intensive fogging operations in all wards from Tuesday. We are now providing 250ml of larvaecide oil to each ward. We will enhance the limit if the need arises. We have also procured a big vehicle-mounted fogging machine spending Rs 11 lakh, which will cover areas that wide roads," said Pradhan.

However, it remains to be seen how the civic body tackles the situation in the absence of adequate handheld fogging machines while most of the areas of the city have narrow lanes where the fogging vehicle would be of no use.