Mosquitoes are laying siege to Salt Lake and its adjoining areas including New Town, several residents and office-goers said.

Places along VIP Road including Lake Town, Baguiati and Teghoria, too, are facing an onslaught of mosquitoes, people from the area said.

An official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, which has areas like Salt Lake, Baguiati, Lake Town and Teghoria in its ambit, said that many of their larvicide-spraying equipment had become defunct.

“We are planning to launch a drive to check all septic tanks. Salt Lake does not have open drains unlike places in Baguiati and it’s perplexing how there has been such a rise in the number of mosquitoes,” said Pranay Kumar Ray, member of the civic body’s board of administrators.

In Salt Lake, many blocks off the Kestopur canal, in sectors I and II, and off the Eastern Drainage Channel, in sector III, have reported an increase in the number of mosquitoes in the past weeks.

“The water in the canal that flows in front of our house has turned stagnant. It is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes,” said Sampriti Bhattacharya, a resident of AL Block.

An official of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority, which provides civic services to Sector V, said that they were spraying larvicide regularly but a dip in temperature had led to a spurt in mosquitoes.

On Wednesday, The Telegraph saw accumulated water thrown from pavement eateries on the sides of the roads in Sector V. Public health experts have warned that throwing water in places where it can accumulate can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The Aedes aegypti mosquito that causes dengue can breed in a coin-sized pool of water.

A resident of New Town’s Rosedale Garden, Rubina Choudhury, said: “If windows are open after dusk, swarms of mosquitoes enter the house.”

An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority, which looks after civic amenities of the township, said that they were conducting intensive spraying of larvicide and checking water bodies.

Several residents of Salt Lake and New Town are down with dengue, another official said.

“New Town has vast open space so we are concentrating our efforts in places where there are housing complexes and commercial establishments. We are also releasing guppy fishes in water bodies and have asked contractors and builders to ensure that freshwater does not accumulate in their sites,” an official said.