Pools of stagnant water have turned construction sites in Salt Lake and New Town into potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
The dengue-causing Aedes Aegypti mosquito can breed in even a spoonful of water. Large stagnant pools of water provide the perfect conditions for mosquitoes to breed, said experts.
Several blocks in Salt Lake have plots where old buildings are being razed to construct newer buildings and many of these sites have open wells or accumulating water.
At some sites, including in CJ Block in Sector I and another in BF Block, mosquitoes were buzzing on Monday morning.
Residents who stay in the vicinity of the plots said they were being forced to keep their windows and doors shut at all times because of the continuous onslaught of mosquitoes.
Barnali Dasgupta, a CJ Block resident, told Metro she requested the contractor and civic officials to spray larvicide in the pool in a plot where a new building is coming up in her block, but no action had been taken.
“We are living in fear as we can not only see mosquitoes flying around but every time we answer the doorbell, the mosquitoes fly into the house. Last year, two of our family members contracted dengue. We are quite worried,” she said.
Susmita Bhardwaj, a resident of BF Block voicedsimilar fears. She said despite the presence of large stagnant pools of water and an open well at a construction sitenear her home, nothing had been done by the site’s contractor.
“We had repeatedly requested the contractor to do something about this but despite reassurances, nothing has been done. We have not spotted any civic worker spraying larvicide here despite the imminent threat of dengue,” said Bhardwaj.
In the past few weeks, at least 14 dengue cases have been recorded from parts of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation area, including Salt Lake, a senior official at the civic body’s health department said.
This has brought the total tally of dengue cases from January till now to 46, with June recording the highest number of fresh dengue cases, the official said.
A senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’s health department said they would take action and ask vector control teams to spray larvicide at construction sites.
New Town, which has a new building coming up in almost every other block across the three action areas, has a similar problem.
A senior official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority said they had issued guidelines to all builders and contractors to take steps to mitigate the spread of the vector-borne disease.
The guidelines mention that if it is difficult to empty out water reservoirs on the upper floors of under-construction multi-storeyed buildings, then kerosene, diesel or mosquito larvicidal oil should be sprayed. The oil creates a layer on the water surface, preventing larvae from coming up to breathe.