Mosquitoes haunt Kochi residents during festive season

Mosquitoes are tormenting city residents as dengue cases rise, drawing criticism from both the opposition United Democratic Front and the public towards the Left Democratic Front-led civic administration.

Mosquitoes have taken over early mornings and late evenings, forcing residents to stay indoors. By October end, the district had reported around 12,000 dengue cases, both confirmed and suspected. Eighteen deaths were recorded over the past 10 months. Of the 12,000 cases, over 7,700 were suspected, while around 4,300 were confirmed, according to official estimates.

“The mosquito menace is so severe that we close all doors and windows by 5 p.m. Yet, our toddler still gets covered in mosquito bites, leaving us deeply worried. There’s no spraying of larvicide in drains or breeding grounds, nor any anti-mosquito fogging,” said K.H. Haneesh, a resident of Fort Kochi Veli division of the Kochi Corporation.

Corporation health standing committee chairperson T.K. Ashraf said directions have been issued to intensify fogging and larvicide spraying across the entire Corporation area. He added that unseasonal rain has hindered larvicide spraying, even as mosquito numbers have surged with the onset of winter.

While residents continue to suffer from mosquito attacks, 10 electrical three-wheelers with fogging machines, procured from Bharat Electronics using corporate social responsibility funds, reportedly remain unused. Senior Congress leader Antony Kureethara and UDF parliamentary party secretary M.A. Aristotle accused the Corporation and Mayor of neglecting the public by leaving them vulnerable to mosquitoes during the Christmas season. They called on the Mayor to implement immediate anti-vector measures and put the fogging machines to use.

Mr. Ashraf said that the Corporation was under the impression that those electrical vehicles could be used without registration, which was not the case. “We have initiated steps for the registration of the vehicles and the issuance of permits. Once those formalities are over, two vehicles each will be deployed across the 11 health circles of the Corporation. They will be used for fogging once in a week for one hour across all divisions. Besides, fogging using the 70 existing handheld machines will also be intensified,” he said.