The New Town authorities are installing four “mosquito magnets” in open public places in all three action areas in an attempt to bolster their efforts to fight dengue, an official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) said.
Such a device releases a mix of propane and carbon dioxide to attract female mosquitoes and trap them.
The NKDA had conducted a pilot study by installing a device in a park in the township. “A vector control team and an entomologist constantly monitored the device. It was found that the device was quite effective in keeping the mosquito population in check. After that we decided to install more such devices,” the official said.
One of the four mosquito traps has been set up in Eco Park. The others will be installed in the open-air theatre of Nazrul Tirtha, the lawn of Rabindra Tirtha and in Eco Urban Village. “All these are open public places. We do not want visitors to these places to be inconvenienced by mosquitoes and exposed to the threat of being infected by the dengue virus,” the official said.
The dengue virus is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said they had embarked on the project as newer technology needed to be adopted in the fight against dengue. “The fight against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes is quite difficult as they can breed in very small pools of water. We need all the help we can get and these devices have proved to be quite effective,” Sen said.
An entomologist at NKDA said the device released small bursts of carbon dioxide at fixed intervals. Female mosquitoes get drawn by the smell of carbon dioxide and head towards the device, which has a concealed net attachment. "Once they fall inside the net attachment, they die,” the entomologist said. Propane acts as propellant for carbon dioxide.
The NKDA is also clearing vacant plots of garbage and bushes and cleaning drains regularly to bolster the fight against the winged menace, an NKDA official said. A daily report on plot-by-plot survey, cleaning of canals, spraying of larvicides and awareness campaign is being filed by vector control teams and their supervisors.
