The two city corporations failed in their duties to eradicate Aedes mosquitoes in their respective areas of the capital.
It has been found on the ground that though many programmes are being held to make citizens aware, the reality is different.
The two cities are only paying fines to control dengue. They do not have any activities to destroy the breeding places of Aedes mosquitoes. Because of this, there is no benefit. The detection rate is increasing day by day.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has warned of strict steps again to control dengue. In the past years, financial fines were imposed if Aedes mosquito larvae were found in any house and institution. This time, the DNCC mayor Mohammad Atiqul Islam warned of fines as well as cases and jail sentences. It will be effective from the 27th of December, he said.
While inaugurating the DNCC’s month-long awareness campaign to prevent dengue at Road No. 7 of Rupnagar Residential Area on Monday, the Mayor said, from December 27, if Aedes mosquito larvae are found in any house or office, jail and fine will be imposed.
He also said that if larvae are found in government offices, the person in charge of that office will be sued and fined. If larvae are found in any office of my city corporation, a case will be filed against the officer of that office.
“I want to send a clear message,” the mayor said. There will be lawsuits, jails, fines and the amount of fine will increase a lot. We have already asked the local government to provide more magistrates.
Mentioning that initiatives will be taken before the start of the dengue season, Mayor Atique said, “Our entomologists have told us to go to the field from now on. That’s why we took this step.
Of the 98 wards in the two citycorporations of Dhaka, 55 are at high risk of dengue. The city people are terrified. In such a situation, the two cities have been conducting special campaigns to kill Aedes mosquitoes. It has also collected fines of more than Taka 1 crore.
Last year, the DNCC’s major initiative to kill mosquitoes was the import of a new type of insecticide ‘BTI’. However, the DNCC faced major criticism over the BTI import process. Contractor firm Marshall Agrovet brought five tons of medicines and supplied them to the DNCC by forging the name of the manufacturer. The price of which is 1 crore 69 lakh 25 thousand taka. However, no money was paid due to fraud by the contractor company. The accused contractor was also blacklisted.
In January 2023, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor, during a visit to Miami Dade County in Florida State of the US, said that the work of killing mosquitoes was done in the wrong way. Various managerial changes will be made, including raising awareness to work properly, establishing labs, using new types of pesticides.
On July 24 last year, the DNCC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jahangirnagar University (JU) to support research on controlling mosquito-borne diseases. Although the MoU was signed, the DNCC could not complete the work of meeting the demand of the lab even after seven months of the agreement.
The dengue situation has worsened across the country. Especially in the capital, the impact is very high. New dengue cases are being reported every day as well as the number of deaths is also increasing.
On the other hand, according to the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), it is not possible to kill mosquitoes by entering anyone’s house. If people are not aware, nothing can be forced. We are conducting special activities to kill mosquitoes. Proper action and money is being fined against the buildings or institutions where Aedes larvae are found. It will take some time to get the results of this operation.
In this case, experts suggest the involvement of entomologists in mosquito eradication, establishment of labs and field work should be started before the dengue season starts. In reality, both the city corporations of Dhaka are still lagging behind in these works.
However, entomologists also say that such a terrible situation has been created due to lack of effective initiatives to control dengue throughout the year. The government has not yet been able to formulate any policy to kill mosquitoes and prevent dengue.
As a result, mosquito eradication activities have become ineffective in city corporations and municipalities. There is no trained manpower anywhere. So it will be difficult to bring the situation under control through fines, and showing some work.