New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in coordination with the Indian Railways Thursday flagged off an engine that sprays ‘Mosquito Terminator’ larvicides in water bodies around railway tracks to prevent mosquito breeding in water.
The corporation has provided a truck-mounted power sprayer to the railways to spray larvicides in water bodies along railway tracks.
The railways would regularly run the ‘Mosquito Terminator’ around Delhi area mounted on a wagon. It has a low flat surface so that truck or any other vehicle can be mounted on it.
The powerful sprayer will sanitize a distance of 50 to 60 metres from the track. Each container carries about 150 kilolitres of larvicides. A kilolitre would cost about Rs.800 and each container Rs.2 lakh.
Speaking about this arrangement, Municipal Commissioner K.S Mehra said: ‘A very large number of population lives around railway tracks, particularly in JJ clusters. They are exposed to higher incidents of dengue and malaria.’
‘The water bodies formed along the track serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The larvicides sprayed over these water bodies would check mosquito breeding in the most effective manner. Manually it is not possible to cover such large tracks,’ he said.
‘The MCD would provide as many containers each day as required for effective spray till the dengue period is over,’ Mehra added.
The engine carrying ‘Mosquito Terminator’ has already passed through some areas like Sadar Bazar, Kishanganj, Sarai Rohilla, Patel Nagar, Palam, Shahabad Mohammadpur, Bijwasan and Gurgaon.
