Mumbai: 2,000 mosquito breeders slapped with fines since January

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) anti-mosquito breeding drive is on full swing as it has since January collected Rs 5 lakh in fine from 2,000 owners/tenants after mosquito breeding sources were found at their place.

The fines were collected when the BMC conducted an inspection after receiving several complaints of mosquito biting. The BMC had asked the residents to clean plant pots regularly, keep objects where water gets deposited clean, to not keep water in the open and to inform the civic body to fumigate the area where there is water stagnation.

The highest number of violations was recorded in G south ward comprising areas such as Worli, Prabhadevi and Lower Parel, followed by D ward. The BMC visited several slum pockets and societies across 24 wards since January and found objects like rubber tyres and pots likely to aid in the breeding of mosquitoes, especially during monsoon. It removed 4,51,986 such objects during the inspection.

"During inspection, we found violations in around 2,000 places, mostly residential. We found breeding grounds in wells, bottled water plants, artificial fountains, air conditioning trays, in basements, elevations," said insecticide officer Rajan Naringrekar.

The BMC has stipulated fines ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 for violation of anti-breeding rules. The city has reported as many as 44 cases of dengue in the first three months of 2019, compared to 19 during the same period last year.

The number of breeding spots of Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, that spreads dengue, malaria and chikungunya, spike during monsoon. Aedes aegypti is known as a container-breeding mosquito because it likes to lay eggs in and around still water.

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