Over 250 fogging machines of Dhanbad Municipal corporation are lying unused at a time when its residents are facing the outbreak of various mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.

Concerned over the issue, Madhurendra Singh, former president of Bartand Chamber of Commerce and a civil rights activist, on Tuesday wrote to municipal commissioner Satyendra Kumar, demanding immediate resumption of fogging services in all 55 wards of the district.

Around 12 bike-mounted and over 225 portable machines are lying defunct due to the lack of use and proper maintenance, Singh told The Telegraph Online.

“I have also drawn the attention of the Municipal Commissioner towards the fact that during the pandemic expired chemicals were used for fogging. As a consequence the grind was ineffective in yielding the desired result. It merely generated smoke,” he added.

Jay Kumar, councilor of ward number 38 of the Jharia circle of DMC said fogging has not been carried out in any ward since the last six months.

“This leads to a strong possibility of an outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases,” he said.

Kumar also said that along with the fogging machines, a lot of other equipment like garbage collecting tractors are lying unused.

“This gives rise to diseases like malaria and dengue, and also puts pressure on sanitation workers,” he added.

Sanitary inspector of the DMC Arjun Ram said operation of the truck-mounted fogging machines is too high.

“It consumes 200 litres of diesel, five litre of petrol and 20 litres of chemical for two-hour operation and thus are lying unused due to lack of funds for managing such huge expenses. We have been carrying out fogging operations with portable machines since the last four days,” he said.