Civic officials said that the main objective behind using drones is to identify stagnant water and kill mosquito larvae by spraying larvicide at the dengue-prone localities where the civic body workers were finding it difficult to enter houses and buildings.
“There are some places where we could not or cannot enter, like the abandoned houses or factory units. With the help of drones, we will be able to identify whether there is any water accumulation on the rooftops of such buildings and their surroundings so that larvicide could be sprayed from the drone itself,” said South Dum Dum Municipality chairman-in-council (health) Sanjay Das.
The drone surveillance and larvicide spraying was conducted at a locality in South Dum Dum ward number 14 on Sunday. Some dengue-affected localities in two more wards were covered on Monday. Officials said that this will continue in other dengue-affected localities as well on a regular basis in an effort to check the dengue onslaught.
Residents of several places in South Dum Dum have been complaining that though awareness campaigns were on, cleaning work was still not up to the mark in some places, which was resulting in water stagnation and leading to breeding of mosquitoes.
The authorities, accompanied by the police, have been entering abandoned and locked-up buildings to clean the premises. In neighbouring Salt Lake, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities also recently went to the rooftops of abandoned and locked-up houses with the help of tree trimming machines to kill mosquito larvae.
The South Dum Dum Municipality area has been reeling under a dengue onslaught this year with close to 1,000 dengue cases and eight dengue deaths this year so far.
In adjacent New Town, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) is conducting a special week-long cleanliness drive across the township. The drive, which started on October 6, will continue till October 13, officials said.
