BMC dumps fight against malaria on private firm

Despite tall claims of dedicating massive resources to eradicating malaria, civic body has allegedly linked up with private company to rid city of mosquitoes

BMC dumps fight against malaria on private firm

Despite tall claims of dedicating massive resources to eradicating malaria, civic body has allegedly linked up with private company to rid city of mosquitoes

Here are some stats. The BMC has 454 workers for fumigation, to keep the city free of mosquitoes.

Every ward has about 10 workers to clean the drains, pick up the garbage and do other related odd jobs that is a force of some 240 cleaning marshals.

When MiD DAY asked Mayor Shraddha Jadhav about the
mosquito eradication campaign launched in conjunction
with the private company, she said she was not aware
of any such partnership

The BMC's coffers are as ample as its manpower. Of its sizeable budget, Rs 2,167.51 crore was allocated this year for health alone.

Of this, roughly Rs 10-15 crore has been spent to eradicate malaria. The corporation also launched a campaign against malaria, 'Mumbai Against Malaria', with much fanfare on June 1.

And yet, the country's wealthiest corporation allegedly needs the help of a private organisation to fight and spread awareness about the disease.

Even as the BMC asserts that it has been undertaking fumigation every week, the private company has claimed it will undertake fumigation of the city, in collaboration with the BMC.

What follows is a story full of irony, or as some would call, a complete communication breakdown.

Even as civic officials including the city's mayor declare they are unaware of any tie-up with a private company, the latter has sent out invites stating the mayor is leading the campaign, and the BMC is helping them out with man- and machine-power.

'What event?'
Releases have been sent out to the media by HIT, a mosquito-repellant brand which is a common household name, stating that it has partnered with the BMC to battle malaria.

The campaign, called Hit Kill Malaria, will be kicked off today at 10.30 am at Yashvantrao Chavan Natyamandir in Matunga, said a spokesperson for the company.

The invitation clearly mentions that Mayor Shraddha Jadhav "leads" and "will inaugurate the event, partnered by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation".

Said a spokesperson for Godrej, which is the parent company for HIT, said, "The mayor has assured us of her presence at the event.

She will help us with workers (from the civic body) and also fogging machines to help in the campaign. We are going to clear the garbage and fumigate the areas.
u00a0
Our drive will start from Shahunagar in Dharavi on Thursday."

However, when MiD DAY contacted the mayor, this is what she said. "I have no appointment for any event on malaria on Thursday."

Jadhav added that she had double-checked her schedule and found no appointment for any such event in her diary.

Officials from the BMC's insecticide department, under whose jurisdiction the machines and workers directly or indirectly work, also claimed ignorance of the event.

Dr Arun Bamne, Insecticide Officer, said, "I do not know about this campaign and we are not sending anyone there."

The private company's invitation for the ceremony kicking
off the anti-malaria campaign mentions that Mayor
Shraddha Jadhav will inaugurate it

He held forth on the civic body's malaria-fighting capacity. "We carry out fogging every week. The department has 227 thermal fogging machines, each operated by two workers, who are 454 in number.

The department has also taken action against 1,116 construction sites out of which 684 have already complied with the cleanliness norms.
u00a0
In June, there were 2,262 construction sites of which 2,008 are inspected every week and 911 (quarters used by construction workers) have been disinfected. We also have six fogging machines placed on vehicles."

'But... she's coming'
Meanwhile, when the company was informed that the mayor said she was oblivious to any such event, its officials seemed shocked.

They asked us to contact Indrayani Maitra, director, Synergy, the coordinating agency between the mayor and HIT.

Maitra reiterated, "The mayor has confirmed her presence and she will be there at the event to inaugurate it. There's nothing to worry about the event. She just got confused."

The spokesperson further belaboured the point. "We even have a pick-up for the mayor from her residence at 10.15 am. The event starts at 10.30 am in Matunga."

He gave more details about the exhaustive-seeming campaign. "The campaign aims at spreading awareness among children as well as housing societies.

But the main aim is to clean up the slums. We also have student volunteers, who will chip in for cleaning up."

Kapil Dev Pillai, category head, household insecticides, Godrej Consumer Products, said, "Our experience indicates that people tend to take less precaution when there are few mosquitoes around.

With the campaign, we intend to spread the awareness that even a single mosquito is dangerous, and can cause this fatal disease. So one needs to kill even the last one to mitigate risk against malaria."

The company would be spending over a crore on the campaign.

Moolah via Facebook
The company will also be donating Rs 2 per 'Like' for the campaign on their Facebook page. Till now there are over 90,000 likes. The company claims that they will use this money for the Hit Kill Malaria campaign.

Opposition reacts
Rajhans Singh, leader of Opposition in the BMC, said, "The mayor going for such private campaigns clearly shows the laziness of the BMC. The civic body claims to have eradicated malaria in certain vital pockets of the city. However, this doesn't seem to be true if such campaigns are being inaugurated. If the mayor is going for one company, tomorrow she might go for other companies too."

10
Estimated number of cleaning marshals in each ward of the city

2,008
No of construction sites that the BMC claims are inspected for mosquitoes every week

454
No of workers in the bmc's insecticide department

227
No of thermal fogging machines in its possession