To tackle dengue and chikungunya outbreak in the national Capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday flagged off the Delhi Government’s month-long fogging drive and said fighting mosquito menace is “no rocket science” if parties join hands in this effort.
The workers, hired by a private agency, have been divided into several teams and deployed across the city to cover each and every locality. Each team, being led by a supervisor, will fumigate a lane and by-lane every alternate day.
Even as he asked Congress and BJP workers to join the AAP supporters in the drive, he did not refrain from taking potshots at BJP-ruled civic bodies accusing them of not performing their duty in tackling mosquito menace.
“There is no point in blaming each other. Mosquitoes bite Congress, BJP as well as AAP supporters. This goes on every year. This time MCD could not perform. I will not go into the reasons. All parties need to wage a joint war against mosquitoes. Getting rid of them is no rocket science,” he said.
Urging volunteers of every political party to ensure that no area is left out in the drive, the Chief Minister said, “People can get their homes fumigated on request.” If the one-month experiment is successful, then fogging drive will be advanced to April-May next year, Kejriwal said.
A senior official of PWD said on the condition of anonymity that 40 to 50 machines have been hired that include five big machines for fogging purposes.
“I work as a beldar. A senior labourer brought us here. We have been promised Rs 400 per day. Although I have not been assigned any area till now,” Anil Kumar, handling a portable fogging machine, said.
Scores of workers were lined up outside the Chief Minister’s official residence. Thick plumes of white smoke covered the area as the machines spluttered to life around 11.30 am. PWD Minister Satyendar Jain and a number of AAP MlAs were also present at the flagging off event. Jain said Kejriwal, upon returning from Bengaluru, was upset that there were complaints of inadequate fogging on the part of the civic bodies.
Environment experts have time and again highlighted the pitfalls of excessive focus on fogging which they say does not achieve anything more than producing a feel-good effect among people.