Several lakhs of people in Laksam, Barura, Lalmai, Nangalkot, and Monohorgonj of Cumilla are distressed by the reckless rampage of monster mosquitoes.
From towns to village alleys, houses, offices—everywhere the torment of mosquitoes has increased. To escape the oppression of mosquitoes, expenses for buying coils and various mosquito medicines have been added to their daily cost lists. Despite the nationwide invisible virus corona, chikungunya, and dengue panic, the local administration has yet to be jolted into action.
For the past 2/3 years, under the supervision of the municipal authorities of Laksam, Barura, and Nangalkot, spraying of medicine to kill mosquitoes was ongoing in neighborhoods. Now it has come to a halt. Still, to prevent those invisible viruses, Laksam upazila and municipal administrations are jointly conducting various awareness programs.
Even Upazila Nirbahi Officer and municipal administrator Kawsar Hamid are working day and night to increase civic facilities and to eliminate invisible viruses and waterlogging by repairing and cleaning drains, culverts, canals, and rivers. Time will tell how much success he achieves in preventing invisible viruses and eliminating waterlogging.
According to multiple sources in the municipalities, last year the authorities of the municipalities in the southern district sprayed mosquito medicine in the neighborhoods, alleys, and drains of the municipal towns, but this year the project started again. Due to the oppression of the monster mosquitoes, people of all professions are in considerable trouble. The residents of the five upazilas of the southern district are exasperated by the bites of monster mosquitoes. In various areas of the upazilas’ lowlands as well as in elite and commercial areas of the municipal towns, mosquito infestation has increased alarmingly. As the incidence of viral fevers has increased in every house in the area, conversations about various viral diseases are surfacing among people.
Specially in the last 15 days, the number of patients with diarrhea and invisible viruses has been steadily increasing throughout the district. With the reduction of cold, the infestation of monster mosquitoes has increased severely compared to other times. There seems to be no relief from mosquitoes even during the day. On the other hand, as soon as evening falls, people are forced to stay indoors with doors and windows shut. Yet, despite the heavy responsibility of regularly conducting mosquito eradication programs by the authorities of the five upazilas and three municipalities of the southern district in the wake of the looming floods, no effective steps are yet visible; as a result, the infestation of monster mosquitoes is only increasing day and night in this region.
Multiple local sources in the southern district have informed that in the past, the mosquito eradication workers of the municipality only sprayed medicine beside the roads and completed their activity, while they were unwilling to spray even the slightest medicine in bushes, alleys, or low areas beside houses. Whether that medicine worked or not can be understood by seeing the terrible activity of the mosquitoes.
For the past few days, the mosquito nuisance has only been increasing. ‘Suffering terribly, brother!’ Yet, the residents of the three municipal towns are reluctant to put all the blame on the municipal authorities. In the nooks and corners of the municipal towns, countless dirty ponds and drains along the banks of the Dakatiya river and connecting canals make mosquito eradication a tough job. Especially 2/3 years ago, each municipal town collected 7 fogger machines and 8 manual machines along with necessary equipment at a cost of 6 lakh taka.
At that time, under the supervision of 5 supervisors, a project was undertaken to run mosquito eradication activities by forming 6 teams with 12 trained workers in the municipal towns and conducting ‘larviciding’ (killing larvae) and ‘fogging’ (killing flying mosquitoes). But in the ongoing 2/3 years, though a nominal mosquito eradication campaign is being kept alive with only 1/2 teams, the entire project seems trapped in red tape. Still, preparations have been taken by the three municipal authorities to restart the project in full form. Two types of medicines are used to kill mosquitoes. ‘Larvicide’ is used to kill larvae and ‘adulticide’ is supposed to be used to kill flying mosquitoes, but there is much talk among the people that these are largely absent. Though various types of mosquito coils are available in the market for mosquito eradication, many brands are adulterated. After lighting the coil, mosquitoes can be seen dancing over the burning coil.
In this regard, despite trying multiple times on mobile phones, detailed information could not be obtained from the upazila and municipal authorities of the southern district.
