Now, builders will have to cough up more for fogging operations
MUMBAI: Even as the number of malaria cases is on the rise, the BMC claims to be doing its best on the ground. Although the civic body took the onus of vector control off builders of construction sites, it has now decided to increase the cost to be borne by the builders in fogging operations.
Until now, said officials, the builders’ vector control activity was subsidised by the BMC, by charging the former a nominal amount. This fee has not been revised for several years. “We will carry out fogging at construction sites but have now worked up a calculation which will charge the builders more than 10% of what they are paying right now,” said a senior official from the civic health department.
This year, the BMC came up with a proposal that builders would be in charge of carrying out fogging, failing which, action would be taken. “However, nobody showed interest, so we took over since the monsoon was fast approaching. That’s when we decided to increase the rates,” said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar.
Apart from this, the BMC has appointed a contractor for vector control activities. It has divided the city into six categories: BMC properties, other public properties like railways, slums, private households, building construction sites and old and dilapidated mill structures. Officials have chalked out an action plan for each of the categories. While the BMC and other agencies will be in charge of repairing leakages and cleaning stagnant water in the first two categories, a door-to-door campaign has been launched in the slums to control malaria. For private households, the civic body will start a sensitisation campaign.
On the clinical side of vector control, the civic body is also urging people not to indulge in self-medication. It has also increased its staff by 30%. “We have also decided to extend our door-to-door campaign to the 30,000-odd homeless people on the streets,” said Mhaiskar.