The lifespan of mosquitoes of Ranchi is perhaps the longest compared to that of mosquitoes in all the cities in the country. These flying insects have a perfect breeding ground all across the city except some VVIP areas and bungalows. Courtesy: the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.
For, the civic body has, primarily, been using fogging machines on the corridors of power rather than making its use for the common man.Strange but true citizens of Ranchi seem unaware about the fogging machine. ‘What is it’ is the reaction when they hear these two words ‘Fogging Machine’.
Resident of lalpur, Neha Keshri said, “Fogging machine, what is thatIJ I do not know what it is. I am hearing for the first time. I have never seen that in my area.”Other citizen who resides in lalpur, Chanda said, “I am totally unaware about fogging machine. I never seen any such machine at least in my locality.”
Monsoon season is awaited by everyone as it brings some kind of relief from the scorching heat of summer. But this season also has its share of woes on our health due to the non-stop spell and the water-logging also give rise to the formation of mosquitoes and several types of illnesses this time. The inactivity of RMC officials are becoming the reason of sufferings for the common people. Despite this there are countable residents who have never seen the fogging machine in their locality but witnessed it in the VVIP areas.
“I have neither seen any fogging machine in my area nor witnessed any RMC workers engaged in the work of hand spray to kill mosquitoes in my area. Due to this number of diseases like Malaria, Viral fever, Diarrhoea, Chikungunya fevers are becoming very common in our area. No steps are taken by RMC in any of the interior localities of Ranchi. Till now nothing is done in our locality to solve these problems,” Kanke resident Md Nayeem Ansari said.
Resident of Doranda, Adesh Singh said, “I exactly do not remember when but I have seen A to Z workers using hand sprays in the VVIP areas and I asked them to enter my colony too but still I am waiting for them and they were never been visible in our area.”
However, RMC officials made lame excuses on the issue. Deputy Mayor, Sanjeev Vijayvargiya said, “We have already done the demonstration of Single system fogging machine which is to be bought for every ward. But the operation was not successful. We faced technical issues so it will be the wastage of money if we buy fogging machines by paying such a huge amount. The fogging will be done by old machines in every ward. But due to the rainy season we cannot afford to make use of the old machine during this season.”
“Fogging machine is very sensitive and if we take out the machine in the rainy season even for half and hour, there is no guarantee when it will start raining and eventually the machine will get spoilt. Thus, we will incur a loss of Rs18lakh. So we are working with the hand sprays in many areas.The process of buying the fogging machine is still in process,” said Omkar Pandey Store in-charge.