Civic body embarks on Buckingham Canal clean-up to tackle mosquito menace

Though the Buckingham Canal comes under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (PWD), the rising number of complaints from the residents had compelled the Corporation to act, officials said. Water hyacinth and silt accumulation has been attributed as key reasons for the mosquito menace. 

“For the past 20 days, we have been using an amphibian vehicle to remove the water hyacinth from the canal to reduce the mosquito menace. Around 550 metres of the canal has been cleared in Adyar (Zone 13),” said a Corporation official. 

DT Next had earlier reported that Adyar recorded the highest number of complaints on mosquito menace, with more than 200 complaints registered last month. Despite the complaints, residents said authorities concerned have not taken concrete action. 

R Jayanthi, a resident of Adyar, said her locality has become a hotbed for mosquitoes yet again. “No amount of mosquito coils or repellents are helping us solve the problem. We have mosquito nets on all windows, yet problem is unmanageable. Fogging exercises have yielded little or no results, as far as the mosquito menace in the locality is concerned,” she added. 

The civic body’s vector control mechanisms like fogging have come under fire from residents, who complain that these methods have yielded little result. This has led to the Corporation trying to tackle the issue at the breeding source, by using anti-larval sprays in storm water drains and removing water hyacinth from waterbodies. 

The city’s 17 lakh households have been divided into 2,035 sectors and the civic body has engaged personnel to conduct a door-to-door inspection to identify and eradicate breeding sources. In public spaces like parks, hotels and other locations, regular inspection is being carried out to enforce preventive measures, the corporation official said.